The Challenge
by evanesce24
Summary: 13 Fairy Tail mages are challenged to save Magnolia and have their weaknesses revealed. 9 pairings: Jellza, Fraxus, Macana, Gruvia, Alzca, Gavy, Luke, and Natsana/Nalu.
1. 13 Mages

A peaceful evening in Magnolia. Throughout most of the town, nary a harsh sound was heard but for the usual stir of the local mage guild, Fairy Tail.

"I'm going to take you down, Droopy Eyes!" Natsu, Fairy Tail's fire dragon screeched at the black-haired ice mage, Gray.

"Yeah, right, Slanty Eyes!" Gray yelled back, an ice lance appearing in his hand. He threw it with one smooth motion of his arm, but Natsu dodged it, smiling like a little kid.

A certain blue-haired water mage, Juvia Lockser, who loved Gray with a passion, was looking on with worry. Of course she was confident in Gray's power, but she also felt it was her job to protect him from harm.

Natsu leapt off the roof of the guild, coming at Gray with his Fire Dragon Slayer Secret attack. Juvia knew how powerful this attack was and saw just a whisper of concern on Gray's face. Before the flames could touch his skin, Juvia pounced at Gray, protecting him inside her water body.

"Ha! Nice move Juvia," Natsu said. And looking examining his smoking fist, "I'm out of fuel, then. See you later!"

Juvia then released Gray, melting off of him. "Juvia," Gray moaned, standing and putting a frustrated palm to his forehead. "You can't save me from every fight. I'm fine on my own."

"But Juvia doesn't want Gray-sama to be injured."

"Yeah, I know." Gray let just a little bit of a smile escape. Juvia had gotten in the way of his fight, but while it was so inconveniencing, it was a little cute.

Inside the guild, Natsu sat at the bar between Lucy and Cana, who was talking to Macao. "Romeo's grown up so fast," Macao told her. "His fire magic's developing impressively."

"Mm-hm," Cana responded, putting more focus into her drink. She cared about Romeo, but she hadn't had a drink all day the day before and felt uncomfortably sober.

Mira walked over to fill her up again, and Natsu stared at her pearly white hair as she moved through the light. He knew another girl, once. She was Mira's younger sister, Lisanna, who had the same white hair, like a diamond. Lisanna's hair was much shorter than Mira's and hugged her head, wisping off at the nape of her neck, like white smoke. Natsu lost himself in his memories of her, like when they hatched Happy, who now sat on the counter in front of him. Unfortunately, Lisanna died two years previously.

"What are you thinking about, Natsu?" Happy asked.

"Lisanna," Natsu sighed, catching Mira's attention at the mention of her late little sister.

Lucy turned to Natsu and tried to cheer him up. "You two pretended you were married, right?" she joked.

"Yeah, they did," Mira said, almost laughing, but not fully.

"You know, Loke joined the guild three years ago, did he know Lisanna well?" Lucy wondered.

"Not really," Natsu muttered, annoyed that Lucy somehow brought everything back to Loke. "He was too busy with all his girlfriends to really pay attention to the rest of the guild."

Lucy fell silent after that, but Natsu, feeling bad for exaggerating, gave her a forgiving clap on the back.

Elsewhere, Erza and Levy were talking to Bisca about her good friend, Alzack. "We're just friends, I swear!" Bisca pleaded.

Right," Levy said with a sarcastic wink. "Come on, we all see it. You two are so much more!"

Bisca buried her head in her hands, but Erza vouched for her. "I'm sure Bisca and Alzack are exactly as Bisca says they are."

"Sure they are," Levy rolled her eyes, and Gajeel showed up behind her.

"Hey, Shorty," he said, cracking a smile.

"Oh, hi," Levy greeted him, suddenly cold. "What do you want?"

Gajeel was shocked by her attitude but didn't let it alter his tough demeanor. "I just came by to see if you were okay after the battle you got into on that request yesterday."

"Of course, I'm fine," Levy spat. "it's not like you let me get into the fight at all or have any confidence in my power."

"Good," Gajeel smiled, missing the point. "That's exactly why I came along."

He was about to walk off, but Erza stopped him. "Quit being so full of yourself, Gajeel. I'm sure Levy had the request under control."

"Well, I was there, and she didn't, so I helped her. How 'bout you mind your own business, Titania." He spat the nickname at her like a rotten cherry pit.

"You want to go, Bolt-head?"

Gajeel cracked his knuckles and neck, "Bring it on, Tower Angel!"

Erza's face fell, and the entire guild hall became silent. "Never mind," she muttered, a tear brimming at her left eye. "Just… just whatever. Never mind." Erza sheathed her sword and wandered away.

"Gajeel," Levy scolded.

"What?" he snorted. "She worked on that Tower of Heaven thing, right?"

"Exactly! She did slave labor for years and just had to relive it all a few months ago, not to mention running into Jellal during the battle against Oracion Seis. You're not allowed to mention it, especially if you're trying to insult her!" She gave him a reprimanding smack to the abs and glared.

"Fine," Gajeel groaned.

Some ways away, the Thunder God Tribe, or Raijinshu, sat around a table. Bixlow, Evergreen, and Freed were excited to have Laxus there, who had been allowed to return for the week as a birthday present from the Master, his grandfather. "Look at everyone. Guildmates arguing and offending each other everywhere you look. Almost glad I got kicked out."

"But you miss us, right, Laxus?" Freed prompted hopefully.

"Of course, but you guys have to stay here. Without you, the guild would truly fall to ruin," Laxus laughed and took Evergreen's hand, kissing it. "you've gotten prettier since I left, Ever. Turn any poor boys to stone recently?"

Evergreen slipped her hand back gracefully. "Oh, Laxus, you flatter too much." Everyone knew Laxus was kidding, at least partially, but Freed turned his head, trying not to look. He hated it when Laxus flirted with women and wished he would flatter him some time.

Suddenly, the guild doors burst open, and a tall, thin man walked in. He wore a long robe with a hood and carried a smooth, yellow orb. He held out the communication lacrima, and a voice spoke from it, a voice so loud, it filled the entire hall and could be heard throughout the city. "Fairy Tail!" it bellowed. "I have come here with a challenge. Far and wide, the people of Fiore praise your spirit and talent, but I beg to differ. Prove me wrong the sending thirteen of your mages to accept my challenge. If these thirteen do not come to my base in the forest by dawn tomorrow, I will not hesitate to destroy Magnolia. I know what you all are thinking: why accept my challenge when you could just beat me in battle? Now, I warn you, I am very powerful but peaceful. I do not want a fight if it's not needed. To settle this nicely, the mages I request must come to my base and overcome the obstacles I have set up for them. The thirteen I seek are: Cana Alberona, Macao Conbolt, Alzack Connell, Natsu Dragneel, Laxus Dreyer, Gray Fullbuster, Lucy Heartfilia, Freed Justine, Juvia Lockser, Levy McGarden, Bisca Mulan, Gajeel Redfox, and Erza Scarlet." After stating the list, the voice silenced, and the robed man pocketed the lacrima.

"Hey, you!" Natsu yelled, enraged, as he strode away, but Erza stopped him.

"We have to keep calm in this," she said. "No one knows what he challenge will be, but the most important thing to do right now is uphold the Fairy Tail name."

"Fine," Natsu grumbled.

Night darkened Magnolia, and the guild emptied, sending the fairies back to their homes for the night. Laxus was staying with Freed and Bixlow for the week and was setting up a blanket on the couch. "You don't have to do that," Freed told him. "You're our guest. Take my bed, and I'll sleep on the couch."

"Hey, thanks Freed," Laxus said, dropping the blanket.

"So, what do you think will happen tomorrow?"

Laxus sighed, "Eh, I don't know. It's odd I was asked to come along at all, since I was expelled from the guild. But oh well, it can't be anything we can't handle, right?"

Freed smiled, content with what little attention Laxus gave him. At least for now. "Right."

Across town, in the Fairy Tail girls' dormitory, Fairy Hills, the girls of Fairy Tail sat around the living room in silence until Levy spoke up. "I wonder what the challenge will be."

The room was quiet for a long while. "I don't know," Bisca finally muttered, wondering if she was on Alzack's mind as much as he was on hers.

"Juvia's just glad to be working with Gray-sama," Juvia said, daydreaming.

"And what happens if you have to fight against him?" Evergreen sneered, annoyed out of her wits by Juvia's constant fawning over Gray and peculiar need to speak in the third person.

"Juvia will not fight against any of her friends, especially Gray-sama," Juvia stated, giving Evergreen a terrible glare.

Erza stood. "We should all go upstairs and get some rest before we have to be up for the challenge tomorrow. Remember, we have to be there at dawn." The girls dispersed to their own rooms and soon fell asleep. Cana wished she could have just one more drink, but decided it would only lead to even more and keep her awake far too late.

A strange night followed the strange evening. Lucy was alone in her house, for Natsu and Happy were actually at their own, for once. Gray was lying in his own bed, imagining possibility after possibility for the next day's challenge, each time seeing a different outcome. Gajeel was doing the same, but all of his scenarios prominently featured a certain mage of short height and wavy blue hair. Macao tucked Romeo into bed, telling him that everything would be fine, that the challenge he heard about would be a piece of cake with some of the guild's most powerful mages involved. Closing the door softly, he hoped he hadn't lied.

The sun broke over the horizon, and the thirteen requested mages stood, right on time, in front of a cylindrical, stone building that had appeared in the forest over night. The doors opened, and the same voice from the lacrima called them in. As Fairy Tail mages, none of them were afraid, stepping confidently towards the awaiting test ready to prove the guild's merit. As soon as they were all inside, a white light shone from every direction, blinding them.

When the ligfht finally dimmed, the thirteen Fairy Tail mages were separated from each other in surrounded by tall hedges. "Where are we?" Lucy asked Natsu, who was lying face-down looking like he had been on a train for hours.

"How should I know?" he moaned, rolling over and stumbling up.

"Fairy Tail!" the mysterious voice boomed. "I have placed you in my maze. In the center, magic is being released that will destroy Magnolia if you don't disable it. You will need all thirteen of your to do this. The maze will test you. I've been watching you for weeks and have designed it to target your weaknesses. You may start when I say to go."

"No fair!" Gajeel shouted to the voice. "You said you'd only hurt the city if we didn't show up!"

"I would," the voice said so that only he and Levy could hear. "But you did, so you get the chance to stop it."

Gajeel clenched his fists, but Levy grabbed his arm, "No, Gajeel! There's nothing we can do now but get to the center of the maze."

"Okay, Shorty. Just stick with me."

Gray looked forward. "This doesn't seem too hard."

Juvia's heat skipped. _Juvia is alone with Gray-sama! _She gasped in her mind.

Laxus stood, waiting, glad he had Freed with him and not some idiot, though he wouldn't have minded Erza, who was a powerful and beautiful person.

The other pairs were Bisca and Alzack, who were prepared to take this maze on just like any other request, and Cana and Macao. Macao was itching to get started for Romeo's sake, but Cana couldn't focus, as she didn't get a chance to grab her morning beer barrel and felt way too sober. Erza was alone.

"Go!" the voice of the mysterious challenger resonated through the maze, and the mages took off.


	2. The Tower Angels

Erza started walking, silent. A wind came through the leaves of the hedges, knocking a stray twig into them. The twig immediately gave a little zap and snapped in two. _Good __thing __I __didn__'__t __try __to __cut __through __them_, she thought. Titania strode around corner after corner, sure she'd find her way easily.

Turning a corner, Erza saw a figure standing at a dead end and looking confused. He hadn't noticed her, so she snapped her head back and tried to catch her breath. _What __is __Jellal __doing __here? __Isn__'__t __he __in __jail?_

She heard steps walking towards her and froze up. "Erza?" Jellal came around the hedge, looking at her.

Her eyes widened. Erza hadn't expected to see this blue-haired man with the strange red marks near his eye ever again or at least for a very long time. "No, you're in jail," she murmured, stepping back. "How are you here?"

Jellal grinned. "I'm a thought projection, Erza. I'm not really here, only mentally."

Erza shifted from confused and fragile to demanding and strong. She pointed her sword at his neck and asked, "How is that possible? You can't use magic in your cell, and how would you know to come here, of all places?"

"Erza, I'm much more powerful than you give me credit for. All of Magnolia heard of the challenge and its terms. Naturally, news spread quickly, and I came to help you."

Erza, deciding to trust him, lowered her sword. "Fine."

For a while, the journey through the maze was quiet and awkward. Erza was still a little bit suspicious of Jellal, but couldn't help the look of sincerity in his deep brown eyes. "Which way should we go?" Jellal asked her, gesturing to the fork in their path.

"Right," she said, and they continued walking.

"So," he chirped, trying to break the ice, "my memory's doing well. Every day, more and more of my life comes back to me. Most of it's about you."

"Oh, well, that's good, that your mind is improving." She walked ahead, not wanting to meet his eyes. She was glad he was regaining his memories, but she wasn't in the mood to discuss it at the moment.

"I remember trying to escape the Tower with you. Our 'siblings'… I can see their faces, but no names yet. There was a boy. He's always loud and wild in the earlier ones, but then he changes."

"Wally," Erza said.

"And a girl. She likes cats."

"Milianna."

Jellal gave a soft laugh, happy to know himself and their friends a little better. "And the two other boys in our group, what were their names?"

Erza sighed. She was a bit uncomfortable reliving her time—their shared time—in the Tower of Heaven, but found that talking about it was liberating in a strange way. She'd never been able to truly let anyone in on how she felt about her past. "The blonde one is Sho, and the taller, dark-haired one was Simon."

"I remember when you were punished for Sho's escape plan. I tried to take it for you, but they took you anyway," Jellal recalled, knitting his brows in concentration. "Do you remember that?"

"Yes." This was one of Erza's most prominent memories. It was the day before she escaped from that wretched tower.

Jellal smiled again. "I think Simon might like you."

Erza stopped walking and stared at the grassy ground. "I told you last time we met: you killed Simon when we destroyed the Tower."

"Oh, right. With all that happened, going to jail and stuff, I forgot that you told me that." A long silence passed. "I think I may have liked you too. Before we took the Tower and you left."

Erza pondered this for some time. The Jellal she knew when they were both so young, innocent but rebellious, is so different from the Jellal she met again a few months before, a criminal. Admittedly, she did like the old Jellal. _But __that __doesn__'__t __matter __anymore,_ she decided. _This __person __is __an __entirely __different __Jellal, __a __stranger._

A loud roar interrupted her thoughts. A white wyvern lumbered through the path. It was small for a wyvern, but big enough to pose a challenge. "I've got his," Erza told Jellal, requipping into her Heaven's Wheel armor. She flew at it, slashing her swords at its think scales. The wyvern swung its powerful tail around, hitting her in the head hard.

Finding herself lying on her back, the wind knocked out of her, Erza tried to sit up, put her head was pounding. She raised a hand and felt a sickly stickiness growing in her red hair. She'd had worse.

Titania pulled herself up, more prepared this time for the wyvern. It clearly was not like a normal wyvern. Visibly, it was smaller, but that flip of it's tail revealed that it was also more agile and could put greater force into a single blow. _Is __this __my __weakness?_ she wondered_. __Only __expecting __the __obvious?_

She managed to hit the beast with some significant injuries, but it soon swatted her to the ground again. This time, it reared up, preparing to finish her off, but Jellal stepped in front of her, sending blasts of magic into the wyvern's open mouth. Its eyes rolled back in its head as it died, and its massive head fell down on Jellal.

"Jella!" Erza screamed. She stood, clutching her side, which was bleeding heavily. "Jellal!" Erza painfully lifted the Wyvern's head off of Jellal, who was either unconscious or dead. Requipping back into her everyday armor, she kneeled next to him. _I __cause __everyone__'__s __death_, she thought as the images of Rob and Simon stepping in front of danger in order to protect her flashed through her mind. Erza always hated that she owed her life to the sacrifice of her friends', and Jellal's was the last straw. She was losing it.

After what could have been hours, Jellal finally opened his eyes. "E-Erza?" Erza smiled, so happy she wouldn't have to add Jellal to the list of people who'd lost their lives preserving hers. "Erza… why do you only cry out of your left eye?" Jellal asked, reaching up to wipe a tear from her cheek.

Erza let out a laugh, "Just an injury. From back then."

"The day you freed us?" Jellal asked. His words touched her, almost making her feel like the old Jellal from so long ago had resurfaced.

"I thought you said there was no freedom in this world."

"How could I ever say that? And to you of all people? You're the freest person in the world, and I love you."

Again, Erza was rendered speechless. "Jellal…"

"Erza," he interrupted, sitting up slowly, "I have this one memory. It's a bit fuzzy, but Milianna was talking about how Simon missed you a lot—this was after you left—and felt bad because even if you had stayed, the two of you would never have gotten together. She said that everyone could see that you liked me. I feel so ashamed of what I became that day, the day you lead the rebellion, and I hate the Jellal I showed you when you returned. I want to be, as an adult, the man I was as a child, and I hope you can still love me after all I've done." By now, he was pleading, and the left side of Erza's face was marked with wet trails.

"Oh, Jellal. I do still love you," she whispered. "I always have." Jellal leaned in and gave her lips a soft kiss. Erza held his face in her hands and kissed him back, happy to have the old Jellal back at last, and completely lost herself in the moment.

Suddenly, a dark realization seeped into her thoughts. "W-wait," she said, pulling away. "What's going on, really?"

Jellal was confused, but this time, Erza could see he was acting. "What do you mean?"

"You're a real person. You're here. A thought projection wouldn't have been able to use magic or be hurt by the wyvern… or kiss me. How are you here, and why did you lie to me?"

Jellal let out the heavy breath he'd been holding and came clean. "A woman came to my cell a few days ago. She said you needed me. She said she could get me out of jail, free me, if I agreed to her terms and didn't question her. She said that no matter how strange it seemed, everything was for your own good."

"And what were her terms?" Erza asked, sure that this woman worked for the man who'd challenged them and had been sent to collect him.

"I had to wait for you to find me in the maze. She said there were runes laid out that would lead you to me without you knowing it, so you'd think you'd found me by accident. She said I had to pretend I was a thought projection to make it seem more believable and that I should be willing to sacrifice myself to help you. That part, I don't think she thought through very well, as a thought projection can't be physically harmed and would offer very little protection. But I didn't think anything of it, as I would've have done that even if it wasn't a condition. Even if it was a condition that I let you die, I'd still save you." As soon as a closed his mouth again, Jellal let out a tortured wail and held his head in his hands like he was about to die of pain.

"Jellal!" Erza yelled. "What's wrong, what's happening?" She looked around like a deer caught in a hunter's path, searching for the source of the pain, something she knew she wouldn't see, but looked for anyway.

"Oh, yeah," Jellal croaked, his face twisted from the searing pain that coursed through his body. "It was also a condition that I not tell you anything." Before her eyes, Jellal began to disappear. Erza tried to hold on to him, wrapping her arms around his fading body like it would do some good, but she was wrong. Jellal blew away, his body vanishing in a wisp of purple runes. "Erza…."

"Jellal!" Erza shouted to the sky in rage. Whoever was the mastermind of this whole thing just took him away from her right after she'd finally gotten him back. They couldn't get away with this. Erza stood and marched through the maze, going back the way they'd come and frantically scouring the grass and hedges for any hint of where Jellal could have been taken or who had done this. Surely, if someone had been spying on the guild, she'd have noticed and noted them.

One name came into mind: Freed Justine. _He __fits __perfectly_, she told herself. A rune mage who had turned against Fairy Tail before because of the "weak" wizards that filled it and had reason to call his friend, Laxus, who wasn't even a Fairy Tail mage anymore into the maze. _Freed__'__s __in __the __maze __too_, she remembered. _It __all __adds __up._

Erza turned back towards the center of the maze and ran for it, not caring if she was going down the right paths or how many dead ends they lead her to, just that the faster she moved, the faster she could get revenge on Freed for deceiving Jellal and using him to mess with her.

She skidded to a halt. That was it. _Jellal__'__s __my __weakness. __The __Tower __of __Heaven __as __a __whole, __but __mainly __him. __I __can__'__t __focus __on __a __fight __if __I__'__m __thinking __about __him, __thinking __about __all __of __them, __and __I __let __my __feelings __for __him __cloud __my __view. __The __whole __thing __was __way __too __suspicious __from __the __start, __but __I __was __too __blinded __by __him __and __the __memories __to __see __it._

Erza pounded forward, making her way through the hedge maze with a renewed energy. The sky darkened, and hours later, she saw a bright light ahead.

Slowly, shielding her eyes with her hand, she walked forward into an open area. It was circular and surrounded by hedges on all sides. It seemed a dead end, but she knew this was the center of the maze. In the center of the circle was a large clock that lay flat as part of the earth. The hands moved around it, pointing to nine o'clock.

She made it. _Take __that, __Freed. __I__'__ll __kick __your __butt __later __for __making __me __feel __so __stupid_, she thought, but secretly wanted to thank him alongside the butt-kicking. He'd brought her the real Jellal, and that was worth a little humiliation.


	3. Written in Lightning

Laxus and Freed began through the hedges with a steady tread. Each time they came to an intersection or fork in the path, Laxus would suggest a direction, and Freed would agree. They walked for hours, both growing hungry and both growing thirsty, both with aching legs that didn't want to walk anymore. But Laxus revealed none of this, so neither did Freed. _I __won__'__t __let __Laxus __down_, Freed told himself. _If __Laxus __continues, __I __continue_.

"So, what do you think the weaknesses of the other groups are?" Laxus asked Freed with a smile. "So many to choose from, it'd be exciting to see how this challenger uses them. I bet the guy'll try to get Gajeel or Natsu to lose their tempers. Or make Lucy actually fight something. Ha! Picture Cana: she's had hardly anything to drink these past few days—she must be so sober!"

Freed smiled softly. He was confident in the guild. If they had weaknesses, they overcame them: thus was the Fairy Tail way. But he didn't want to speak against Laxus so he only mentioned, "I think Macao's trying to get Cana to drink less… for her health. It was because of him that she only had one barrel yesterday and didn't drink at all the day before while they were on a request together."

"If Macao's trying to get Cana off her barrel, he's got his work cut out for him."

Freed just nodded, grinning. Just having Laxus there with him—just thinking about him—was enough to make him grin. However, it was also enough to make him feel saddened. _Laxus __will __never __return __my __feelings_. Freed felt he could understand how Juvia often felt about Gray: she loved him, but he only saw her as a friend. But at least Gray knew Juvia liked him. Freed's worst fear was that Laxus would learn of his feelings and shun him for them, embarrassed to be felt of in that way.

"Laxus," he called, "you tired at all?"

"No," Laxus said. "Are you? We can stop for a minute if you want."

"I'm fine. Let's keep going," Freed said, waving Laxus forward, but the hand he held to the cramp in his side showed different.

Laxus looked at him skeptically. "Well, I want to rest. If you want to keep moving, you can."

Freed was shocked when Laxus took a seat on the ground, questions running through his mind. Laxus had said he wasn't tired, so could he be resting for Freed's sake? The thought that Laxus might like him crossed Freed's mind, but he pushed it away, not wanting to get his hopes up.

"Laxus, freeze!" Freed shouted just as Laxus was about to lean into the hedge.

"What?" Laxus asked, snapping back up. "What's wrong?"

"Look," Freed gestured to the ground directly at the edge of the hedge. He tapped it with his sword. A line of ancient letters written in purple appeared before them. "Runes."

Laxus was breathing heavily from the shock. "What do they say?"

"Death," Freed told him grimly.

"The maze is rune-based then. Makes you a pretty valuable partner after all."

Freed chuckled and blushed. "Thanks, but more than anything, this perturbs me. Whoever set these runes is giving rune mages a bad name."

Laxus stood and shrugged off his flowy, fur-lined coat. "Wouldn't want it to be blown into a rune."

"Maybe if you put you arms through the sleeves, there'd be less of a danger," Freed joked. Laxus shook his head, letting only a small smile show, and dropped his coat to the ground.

They proceeded forward, Freed sensing the area for runes, and Laxus pointing out how Macao seemed to care for Cana.

"It looks that way," Freed speculated. _As __I __care __for __you_.

"What about you? Anyone in particular catch your eye, Freed? Eh?" Laxus teased, elbowing Freed in the shoulder and seeing his discomforted stiffness and reddened face. "Ha! Who's the lucky one, then? If it's Ever, you'd better wish you don't catch her eye!" Laxus roared with laughter at his own joke, but Freed tried desperately to turn his thoughts off the subject. When Laxus finally calmed down, he wiped his eye and said, "Of course, if you do catch Ever's eye—and it doesn't turn you to stone—you're in a good place indeed."

Laxus tossed Freed a suggestive glance, making a lump catch in his throat, his palms sweat, and his eyes bulge. "Y-y-y—ahem—you and Evergreen?" Freed stammered, distraught inside by how much love Laxus gave others, but never him. And right before his eyes too.

"Oh course! It was long ago, and we didn't make a spectacle of it as some people do. You didn't notice? Bixlow caught on right away, and we were sure he either told you or you did the same."

"How long ago was it?"

Laxus thought for a moment, calculating. "We first got together five or so years ago, and the last time we hooked up was a few years after that. It wasn't anything serious; we weren't some kind of couple. We were just fooling around, you know?"

Freed couldn't breathe. Laxus had hooked up and fooled around with Evergreen for a few years. The idea couldn't be fully processed in his mind. _But, __of __course, __Laxus __has __been __with __other __people_, Freed tried to rationalize. "Hold up," Freed said, holding an arm out to stay Laxus. "Runes."

He traced his sword on the ground in front of their feet, and again the ancient letters showed up in purple. "Well, what is it?"

"Serpent."

"We could beat a serpent easily," Laxus shrugged.

"But we don't have to. I don't think this is the right path. We should go back and try a different way," Freed said without thinking about what he was really saying until it was out of his mouth.

"What makes you think that?"

"These runes are meant to make us think this is the path, even though it isn't. The runes that will test our weakness will be on the true path, somewhere else."

Laxus stared at the runes. "You can read the intention of runes too?"

"No, only the ones we've seen here in the maze," Freed explained, just as puzzled by it as Laxus. "There's a connection I feel with these runes that I can't explain."

Turning around and following different lines of hedge, Freed and Laxus walked, and Laxus talked about his time away from the guild. Before long, they came across more runes.

Freed drew his sword to reveal them and read, "Pleasure."

"This can't be the one meant to weaken us," Laxus scoffed. "Come on, let's go another way."

"No, this is it. I suppose this guy thinks it would weaken us to be happy."

Laxus was stunned. He picked up a rock, tossed it into the runes, and waited. Nothing happened.

Freed smiled at Laxus's cute stupidity. "A rock wouldn't feel pleasure, Laxus," he said gently. "And if it did, we wouldn't see it."

"Fine, then. I'll try it." Without hesitation, Laxus walked across the line of purple letters. Freed watched, petrified.

Just as the two were starting to think it'd had no effect, the hedges stirred. First one, then two, then three four five six women slinked out from the hedges. They were scantily clad and certainly beautiful: fit bodies, soft skin, large chests, small waists that led into round hips and long legs, smooth hair, big eyes, and an admiration of Laxus that showed on all of their faces.

He was soon surrounded by them, and Freed—heartbroken—could describe the look on Laxus's face with just one blood-curdling word: pleasure.

_You __always __were __such __a __player. _Unable to bear it any longer, Freed turned and ran back through the maze as fast as he could.

"Freed!" Laxus called after him. He tried to follow, but the women clung to him, carrying an aura of lust along with them that threatened to suffocate him. "Freed, wait!"

But Freed didn't listen. He ran and ran and ran, turning through the hedges until he couldn't run anymore, and then, he found himself a dead end and sat in it, crying. _Laxus __will __never __love __me_.

It took hours for Laxus to find him, and when he did, Freed feel apart all over again. "You aren't here to make sure I'm okay," he got out. "You're only here because we need all thirteen of us to disable that magic."

Laxus just stood, showing no emotion. "Freed… I don't know how to talk to you. There are times when there are things I wish I could talk about, but the words don't come to me."

The image of himself as a child formed in Laxus's mind. "_Daddy!_"  
>he'd called one morning when he was eleven years old. "<em>Daddy! <em>_Come __with __me __into __the __forest! __That __new __girl, __Mirajane, __threw __my __brand __new __head phones __in __there!_"

"_And __why __can__'__t __you __go __find __them __yourself?_" he saw his dad demand in a stern voice.

"_I-I__'__m __scared __of __the __forest,_" Little Laxus had whimpered. Truth was, he'd thrown the headphones himself and only wanted to see his father show a little compassion for once in his life. He never did get those headphones back.

"_Don__'__t __fear __anything, __Laxus. __Crying __like __that __will __only __lead __you __to __grow __up __to __be __just __like __your __kooky __grandfather. __Do __you __want __that, __Laxus? __Huh?__"_

The same scenario played out whenever Laxus's father caught him expressing any great emotion. Sadness, fear, love, frivolity, worry, sympathy: they were all condemned. The only emotions Ivan seemed to accept from Little Laxus were anger and satisfaction.

"_I__'__d __hate __to __see __you __turn __out __like __that __old __man!__"_ he would tell him near every day until the atrocious emotions broke out of their cells no more.

"Laxus!" Freed screamed, snapping him back into the present. "I try so hard every day, but nothing's good ever good enough, is it? Is it? Do I have to be S-class before you'll love me? Ever's not S-class! I'm more powerf—"

"Freed—"

"Laxus, why won't you love me?"

"Freed, shut up!" Laxus yelled, and Freed immediately composed himself. "Ugh, Freed. Don't… don't do that. Why do you have to do everything I tell you to and agree with my every word? The only time you've ever shown your own will or opinion was during the battle of Fairy Tail, and you'd been right!" Laxus put a frustrated hand to his forehead. He was his father's child. "Freed, I'm sorry. I just don't know how to describe what you are to me. I mean… I want you to be happy, and when you're sad, it makes me sad. But it's not like… ugh… it's more than that, I just… I don't know how to say it, and it's hard for me to show," Laxus stammered.

By now, it was dark in the maze. Freed stood and put a hand on either of Laxus's shoulders. "I understand, Laxus. Let's go."

Laxus smiled and slung an arm across Freed's shoulders. They walked back through the maze and soon passed the area where the pleasure runes used to be. Not far beyond, there was an opening. A light shone into the maze, and they walked out to see a circular clearing with a clock on the ground that read nine fifteen.

Erza stood in an archway in the hedge on the other side, a maze behind her and _9:00_ written in light pen above her head. A murderous glare filled her eyes, which were trained on Freed.


	4. The Keg or the Kid

As soon as the voice shouted for them to start, Cana took off in a sprint, turning down path after path.

"Cana, wait!" Macao called. He could keep up with her if he wanted, but his plan had been to work through the maze a little more methodically. "Cana, if we just think for a minute, we can get through this much faster!"

Finally, she slowed and walked back to him. "Yeah?" she snapped. Cana was on edge. In nearing three days, she'd had only one barrel of beer and she was feeling way too sober. But she'd been this sober before, surely, and it had never had such an effect. _I __bet __the __maze __is __doing __this_, she figured.

"I raised a kid, remember? Romeo's doing mazes all the time, and I do them with him. I know all the tricks."

"Like what?" Cana scoffed, skeptically.

"Well," Macao started, unsettled by Cana's sudden sharpness. "Well, there's several tricks, but the one I was thinking of was keeping to one edge. Staying straight through the middle almost never works."

"Fine," Cana sighed. "Right or left?"

"You pick."

"Right." Of course she picked right: the right side of the guild's storage closet is where the barrels are kept.

"Hey, you alright?" Macao wondered, hoping that his efforts to help her hadn't ended up hurting them as a team.

"I'm fine. Wouldn't mind a nice strong drink, is all." Cana walked straight ahead, forcing herself to move through the hedges without focusing on the dryness of her throat and mouth, the emptiness of her stomach, the pounding in her head. This would be hard, but the sooner they finished, the sooner she could get back to town and grab a drink. She couldn't even wait to get all the way to the guild: she'd just stop at the first bar they passed. "What's up with Romeo? You said yesterday he's getting better at his magic?" she asked him about his son as a distraction from the lack of alcohol in her system: never before had her BAC been so low. She was sure of this.

"Yes, Romeo's magic is showing so much potential. He's only seven, now, and he can only conjure a small flame, but it's a lot better than it was a month ago." Cana truly did care about Romeo. Any other day, she'd be listening to Macao intently, hanging on every word and picturing little Romeo doing all the things Macao described, pretending she were really there. Sometimes, she'd even fantasize that she was there with Macao, and they were married, raising Romeo together.

But on any other day, she'd also be listening to this story with either a drink in her hand or a barrel in her arms. They'd be at the Fairy Tail bar, and Mira would be there, ready to fill her up as soon as she bottom. Cana could feel the smooth wood of a barrel in her arms. She could smell the drink it held so generously for her. And soon, the illusion became unbearable to keep up.

Cana snapped back to reality. She had no barrel of alcohol. She was walking through a hedge maze with Macao on their way to stop harmful magic, and he was still going on about Romeo.

"You know, the other day," he told her, not noticing how she'd zoned out, "Romeo made some blue fire. It was just a spark, really, and he wasn't able to do it again, but it made me so happy. He'll use rainbow fire, then, when he's older." Macao spoke as if in a daze, which he was, thinking about his son growing and thriving as Cana thought of an ice cold drink.

After only an hour of walking, Cana was completely fatigued. "I can't walk anymore, Macao. My muscles hurt."

"You did really well at this year's 24-hour race," Macao recalled. "Bring that kind of energy back up, and let's take this guy down!" He meant to be encouraging, but everything sounded bad to Cana.

"I'd drunk a full barrel just before that race, if you don't remember," she said forcefully. "Sorry, I'm just a little touchy. I think the maze might be some kind of catalyst to sobriety."

"Here, it'll be fine if we just keep moving and get to the end of this maze," Macao said, taking her arm and helping her along. "Whoa, are you sure you're okay, Cana? Your skin is so clammy and cold."

"Cold? Huh, I thought, if anything, I may be coming down with a bit of a fever."

"Cana, this is serious. If this is how you get when you don't get enough alcohol, isn't it reason enough to try and wean yourself off of it?"

"How does that make sense? First thing I do when we get out of this Hell whole is chugging my weight!" she snapped, snatching her arm out of his grasp.

"But if you didn't drink so much, you wouldn't depend on it like this. It's a cycle." Cana saw it, but she didn't want to give him the satisfaction, so she stayed silent. "Here, I'll carry you until you start feeling a bit better." Cana rolled her eyes but accepted. She jumped onto his back, and he held her legs under her knees and lightly jogged along. Soon Cana was asleep, her head resting on his shoulder.

"Cana?" Macao woke her gently.

"Hm?"

"It's mid-afternoon, I think. You feel like walking now?"

The time startled Cana, and she nearly fell off his back, unable to get off fast enough. "Macao, you didn't have to do that! You must've carried my for seven hours or more! How are you still standing? I'm so sorry!"

Macao laughed her apologies away. "It's fine Cana. I really didn't mind."

Cana gave him a joking smack on the back and cracked, "Well, I was just worried about your back, was you're so very old!"

"Cana, I'm only thirty-six."

"True, I'd say your back has a couple more good years. Then Romeo will have to buy you a cane for your birthday!"

"Very funny," Macao said sarcastically. He didn't like talking about his age. He wasn't that old, but he was twice her age, a fact that lingered in the back of his mind, always keeping him from letting himself like her too much. After her nap, Cana seemed to be at least somewhat back to her normal self, so he let himself smile about it. But that was one smile made to early.

As Cana took her first step to follow Macao, a wave of nausea coursed through her, and she puked in the grass.

"Cana! Oh, my god, are you okay? Do you have a fever, after all?" He put a hand to her forehead, feeling for heat like he would for a child, but she was still cold and clammy. "You don't have a fever, but you're definitely sick."

"I'll be okay. I actually feel a little better now. Let's keep moving."

"You sure?" he asked when she pushed past him, trudging along the path.

"Yeah, I'm fine," she lied. She still felt sick, thirsty, anxious, on edge, and sober, but she couldn't let Macao feel responsible for this when all he'd done was try to make her healthier.

"Wait," Macao stopped her when she began to turn right at a fork. "We're going to the left now. The right side lead to only dead ends, so I came back and tried the left while you were asleep."

"Oh."

Not much farther along, Cana and Macao found a large rectangular space in the hedge maze. As soon as they were inside the clearing, a transparent film tinted purple sprang up along the middle, separating them. "Macao!" Cana shouted, startled by the sudden challenge of what was previously only a maze. It seemed that now, their weaknesses would be tested.

Words appeared on the rune wall, reading _The __one __to __the __east __cannot __speak, __so __the __one __to __the __west __must __be __able __to __think. __No __one __can __use __magic. __Only __one __can __be __saved._ At first, the words angered the both of them. If they needed all thirteen mages to stop the magic from hurting the town, it wasn't fair to lay a trap that eliminated one of them.

Macao said something, but Cana could only see his mouth moving, no words coming out.

"You must be east," she said. Pressure strangled her already throbbing head. She wasn't the best at thinking up plans of action on her best days, and today was the last day she'd want to be given this responsibility.

Just as she was trying to figure out what was supposed to happen, a pit opened up from the ground, taking up about half of her side of the rectangle. Fire rose from it, its fingers reaching up at least ten feet above the grass. The hedges on either side of it rose and turned to meet each other in an arch ten feet above the tips of the fire, and from the arch, two objects on ropes were lowered.

On the right was a keg, and on the left, under the influence of a sleeping charm, was Romeo.

Cana's face twisted in horror. She turned to Macao on the other side of the runes, and his face was the same. They both looked up suddenly, as new words appeared on the runes. _As __soon __as __one __is __touched, __the __other __will __fall_.

The terrible truth that it was up to her to save one and sacrifice the other dawned in Cana's mind. Of course she would save Romeo. She would endure anything for the kid, but that keg… it looked awfully appealing.

Macao saw the horrifying look on her face and he waved his arms to catch her attention. She her eyes found his, he mouthed with perfect clarity, "_Just __get __Romeo!__"_

Cana nodded to him, but the barrel never left her mind. Just looking at it, filled with alcohol—she could smell it—made her really feel how dry and heavy her tongue felt. Her headache worsened, and she threw up again. She could get them both, right? She could jump up, grab the barrel with her legs and Romeo with her arms, glide over the fire, release the keg when low enough and land with Romeo safe in her arms. It was perfect.

"Macao, I can get them both," she said, walking back as far from the fire as possible to get a running start.

Macao's eyes widened in terror and he shook his head furiously. "_Just __Romeo,_" he mouthed. "_Only __go __for __Romeo!_"

Cana stopped looking at him, then. She wasn't an idiot. Nor was she so desperate for a drink that she'd let Romeo die. She felt like he was already her own son, after all. But the barrel was just so tempting, a relief from these crippling withdrawal symptoms.

"I can do it! I can get both!"

She didn't look to see him, but Macao was shaking his head so fast and hard that he could've broken his own neck.

Cana looked down at her trembling hands as she took a runner's starting position, focused on the center point between the two suspended treasures, which were so conveniently close. She set her shaking hands in the grass and tried to focus for a minute before taking off.

Macao couldn't look. Tears welled up in his eyes and fell down his cheeks. This wasn't Cana's fault. If anything, he blamed himself for setting the sober bar so high.

Cana leapt into the air, and just before she could turn horizontal to grab them both simultaneously, she saw that it really was Romeo she should rescue and Romeo alone that she would be able to. At the last second, she tilted herself farther to the left to get a better hold on Romeo's sleeping body, and together, they fell to the ground.

She rolled over like a log a few times, absorbing the impact of the landing, clutching Romeo to her body. He was still fast asleep. She looked up at Macao, who was smiling with relief and pride.

The runes dissolved, and Macao ran to Cana's side. "Thank you, Cana. You did good."

At the sound of his voice, Romeo's eyes opened. Only they weren't really Romeo's eyes. They were a vibrant, neon purple. And when he spoke, the voice was that of their challenger, not Romeo. "Congratulations. The real Romeo is safe at home, waiting for his parents." With that, the illusory Romeo vanished from Cana's arms.

Neither of the mages could speak. There was nothing to say. They were played for fools, but had it been the real Romeo, it was the right decision, definitely. This is what Cana tried to convince herself of as she saw the last of the barrel crumble to ash in the flames and the fire, which had flared up with the fuel of the beverage.

"Come on," Macao said, laying a hand on her arm. "We can't be far, if this was waiting for us."

"Yeah. But Macao, I was thinking, you don't suppose the one behind this may be—"

"I know. I was thinking the same thing."

"And?"

"It may be runes that make this maze dangerous, but I don't think Freed would do this to Fairy Tail," Macao said.

"He was with Laxus enough during the battle of Fairy Tail. He could turn on us again," Cana argued.

"But in the end, he stood up against Laxus, remember? He wouldn't have done that if he was just going to change his mind again and do this. Also, the battle was Laxus's idea and design, Freed was just a supporter and contributor."

"Yeah, whatever," Cana mumbled. "And what do think the voice meant by saying Romeo was waiting for his parents, if h only has you?" Macao didn't hear her, or else he did and just didn't respond. The sky had been dark for hours now, marking a full three days she'd gone with only one barrel of alcohol. Up ahead, a light caught her eye. "Hey, look! The center of the maze!"

Macao followed her, rushing towards the circular clearing in the hedges that had a large clock on the ground, reading nine-twenty. Erza was standing in an archway across the circle from them, _9:00_ floating over her head, and Laxus and Freed were in the arch next to them, _9:15_ above them. Macao didn't know what had gone down with Erza and Freed, but he definitely would not want to be on the receiving side of the glare Erza was shooting Freed.


	5. Ice Raining on the Past

Gray and Juvia walked through the maze, not putting too much thought into strategy, but just taking the paths that felt right.

Juvia's heart was pounding. She as alone with Gray, something that hadn't happened since she first met and fought with him. Something she'd been hoping to experience again ever since. True, they and possibly all of Magnolia were in danger, but she still had her Gray all to herself without the many love rivals she hated so prowling about, trying to steal Gray's love.

Gray was trying to figure out who this guy could be why he'd set up such an elaborate challenge and threaten an entire city just to see for himself that Fairy Tail could live up to its reputation. It seemed like a front to him, a mask to hide some dark ulterior motive. The idea that he may have lured Fairy Tail's most powerful members here so he could take them out and weaken Fiore's mightiest guild, making way for dark guild like his own (as Gray assumed he was the master of one) crossed his mind. But then, why not request people like Mira or Gildarts or Mystogan or Makarov himself? That the challenger thought those he requested were the guild's most powerful started to seem more and more unlikely as Gray also considered who had been invited_.__Most__of__us__are__really__strong_, he told himself. _Me, __Juvia, __Erza, __Natsu, __Laxus, __Gajeel, __Freed: __us, __I __can __see. __But __truth __be __told, __Macao, __Cana, __Bisca, __and __Alzack __are __pretty __average. __Lucy__'__s __okay, __but __not __even __close __to __our __top __thirteen. __And __Levy__… __what __does __she __even __do?_

Gray shook his head. Of course, all of the mages of Fairy Tail were very powerful and very strong-minded. No one in the guild could ever be called weak. But if that were true, why would this person be calling them out on their weaknesses like this?

Juvia, after getting over a little bit of the thrill of being alone with Gray in a place as romantic as a hedge maze (even a deadly one, which they proved by testing the hedges with some grass), was thinking along the same lines. Juvia and Gray, deep down, aren't so different.

"Juvia's very happy to be working with Gray-sama," Juvia said to break the ice after they'd been walking for a while in silence.

"Yeah, I'm glad you're here, too," Gray responded, smiling.

"Um, so, Juvia was wondering what the whole point of this challenge is. Why go through all this trouble just to prove a point?"

"Exactly!" Gray exclaimed. "And the people he requested: so random, right?"

Juvia nodded. "Juvia was thinking the same. How does Gray-sama think the challenger picked the thirteen and paired them up?"

"I have no idea, but since thirteen is an odd number, how did they group us. Who's in pairs or groups, and who's alone?" He'd never really had a quality conversation with Juvia one-on-one. Now that he got the chance to, he found it was going pretty well. They clicked. Yes, he knew she liked him—a lot—and that the guild would be all over the fact that he thought they clicked, but he just wasn't the relationship type. At least, not yet. For the time being, he felt like staying single. Plus, he felt that Juvia was more of a friend to him right now. He'd never really talked to her much, after all.

Juvia had an idea about how the challenger grouped people the way they did. She couldn't see the other groups, so there was no way she could prove her theory, but based on who was requested, she thought maybe this person had paired potential couples together.

This theory, along with the fact that she'd been placed with Gray, enchanted her. It felt like some purely mesmerizing substance—happiness and love in liquid form—had been injected into her bloodstream and coursed through her body. Every square millimeter of her skin, every drop of water that formed her heart, could feel the sheer joy that someone, be he evil or be he good, thought she and Gray made a good couple.

"Juvia?" Gray said, checking on her after she'd been lost in her own mind for a few minutes. There was an expression of wonderment, an overjoyed, intoxicated expression, on her face. "What are you so happy about?"

"N-nothing," Juvia muttered, slowly surfacing form the passionate sea of her mind. "Juvia was just thinking about how truly amazing the guild is." Gray knew she liked him, and he was wondering about how she thought the pairs/groups/loners were placed, but there's no way she could tell him what she'd just been thinking. She didn't want to come off as too crazy.

"Yeah, we're pretty cool, I guess," Gray laughed. "I remember when I first came to Magnolia and joined. It's overwhelming to everyone when they first start out."

"How did Gray-sama find Fairy Tail?"

Gray's face took on a strange expression: suddenly more serious than he had been but with a certain happiness underneath. "Ur," he told her, remembering his teacher, who'd sacrificed herself to save him, Lyon, and the world from Deliora. "She wasn't a member, but her parents were. She'd been raised in the guild, like Romeo or Laxus. But, when she got a little older, she decided that she'd rather not work in a guild. She liked the familial love that everyone brought with them, especially in Fairy Tail, but the idea of living in city like Magnolia just wasn't for her. She's just one of those people who enjoy company, but like to be far from large, urban areas. When she was fifteen, she moved away, out to a little house in the frozen outskirts of a little town. That's where she trained Lyon and me."

"Wow. Ur-san's lead such an incredible life," Juvia marveled. She loved how Gray told stories; his face, his voice, his eyes, his posture, everything about him felt like it increased in hotness when he was storytelling.

"Yeah, she has. Well, she never spoke much about her life before meeting Lyon and taking him on as her pupil. He and I were always curious, but all she'd disclose was that she had a daughter, who'd died. I didn't understand it at first, but now I suppose that since Fairy Tail is so widely known, she didn't want people to see her as another Fairy Tail wizard—a remarkable thing to be known as, just not what she wanted—but as her, and her accomplishments alone, not the accomplishment of her old guildmates."

"Juvia understands. Ur-san is an amazing person with or without Fairy Tail."

Gray smiled. "Well, one day I got her talking about her parents, and she mentioned the guild. After she defeated Deliora, Lyon and I parted. He set out alone, not wanting to have anything to do with me, and set to work on freeing Deliora, which we took care of on Galuna island. Eventually, he joined a guild, Lamia scale. The first thing I did after Ur's sacrifice was come to Magnolia. I joined the guild, but Ur's parents weren't there. I didn't ask about them, because I had been pretending I didn't know Ur. At that point, I still believed that I'd caused her to be put in that position, to have to use Iced Shell, so I didn't want anyone who'd known her as a kid or known her parents knowing the truth about me."

Gray paused for a moment. "You're the first person I've told the whole story to. Most of the others, they know I was taught by an ice mage named Ur, but most of her parents' generation is retired or dead, and the others who knew her either left or don't remember her. Makarov knows, but he figured it out himself."

"Juvia thinks Gray-sama was very brave to come to a guild of people who knew Ur-san after thinking he'd ended her life as it had been before. Are her parents still alive?"

"No. They died a while before I came to the guild. I don't know what I would've done if I saw them. Ur was my second mother. I didn't know how I would've taken to grandparents. What are your parents like?"

Juvia was silent. "Juvia doesn't like talking about her parents."

Gray was not normally one to press subjects that others were uncomfortable with, but this was something he felt Juvia needed to get off her chest. "Come on. I told you something from my past that I never told anyone else. What happened with your parents?" Gray let his voice make Juvia feel like it was just a friendly conversation, but inside, he was genuinely worried for her. No one in Fairy Tail, as far as he knew, had grown up with normal childhoods or families.

"Well," Juvia began. She'd always wanted to let people in on her feelings, but no one ever seemed to understand. Now her Gray was asking, showing actual interest in her, and she was hesitating? What was wrong with her?  
>"Juvia's parents were bad people. Whenever Juvia tries to picture herself telling someone about it, it comes out sounding like Juvia's parents weren't so bad, but they were. The story makes Juvia sound awful, so Juvia's never told anyone." Juvia took a deep breath, nervous about continuing.<p>

"Go on, tell me. I'll try to see it your way, whatever it is," Gray assured her.

His confidence in her sent another rush through her body. "Juvia's parents hated Juvia more than anyone else Juvia can remember. Since she was born, it was raining, and they had to be there in the rain with her the entire time, parenting. There was one occasion, Juvia can remember, though she was only five, when they tried to 'help' her. They left her in her room, the doors and windows locked and cameras watching always. They left Juvia in that wretched room, that pitiful room for days without any water. To everyone else, their logic seems perfectly fine, 'Dry her out and maybe the rain will finally stop.' They said they did it so that Juvia might have a better life, a life in which people would actually want to be around her and not need an umbrella. But Juvia knows what they were really thinking, 'Let's dehydrate the girl whose body is water, and when the rain stops we'll know she's dead. Then we can have another child, a child of the sun.'"

Gray was horrified by Juvia's story. He couldn't see how anyone would sympathize with the parents unless they were there to defend themselves. But to Juvia, everyone who hated the rain she brought with her had the potential to be exactly like her parents.

"Juvia nearly died in that wretched, pitiful room. That's what her parents called it. They said it was a wretched, pitiful room for a wretched, pitiful rain girl. On the fourth day that Juvia was in that room, she stopped feeling hurt. Juvia stopped her self-pity, her sadness, her betrayal. All Juvia felt on that fourth day was pure anger and hatred. If her parents hated her, then Juvia would hate her parents. The rain outside, the rain that tapped at her locked window through all of those four days, beat down harder and harder until it found a crack in the roof and pushed it into a gaping hole. The rain poured so powerfully that it soon broke through the entire roof. It destroyed the Loxar house. Juvia danced in the rubble of that room, spinning with her arms out wide and her mouth held open and smiling to the sky. The rain softened once Juvia was free and generously fed her weak, drying body."

Juvia turned away from Gray then, embarrassed to tell what came next, but feeling like she had to now that she'd come co far. _It__'__s __Gray-sama. Juvia __can__'__t __afford __to __push __him __away_. "Juvia's dad grabbed her by the arm and stopped the joyous spinning. He stared into her eyes with such hatred and fury, Juvia thought his eyes alone could kill her. He yelled at her to look at what she'd done, shaking her arm and squeezing it so tight. Juvia, in bringing the rain down on the house, had killed her own mother." Juvia paused to collect herself. "Juvia, using her water body, pulled her arm out of her father's grasp and yelled back that it was their fault for killing her in that wretched, pitiful room. Then, he sent her to boarding school. A very nice boarding school, where she'd live well enough, and he'd only have to deal with her in the summer, which he sent her to camp for. Juvia hated the school and the students, but she hated her father more. One day, when Juvia was thirteen, she ran away. He father dropped her off at the school, but instead of going to the dorms, Juvia dropped her bags and ran through the rain, seeking anyone who would accept her for what she was. That's when Juvia found Phantom Lord." Juvia took another deep breath. "nine months after joining, nine months spent with people who saw her power and its strength and not just the rain, which Juvia had grown to love, for it gave her strength, Juvia saw a strange request on the board. A man needed help finding his daughter, who'd run away. It was Juvia's father, of course. No one at the school had even noticed that Juvia hadn't returned for the fall, just that the skies were clear. Juvia supposed they all thought she just didn't show up, though Juvia was enrolled, and forgot about the gloomy rain girl. It wasn't until summer, when she should've returned home, that the question of where she was became an issue. Juvia took the request. Juvia only wanted to talk to her father, because though she hated him, he still should know what she was doing. When Juvia got to his house, the first thing he did was call her a wretched, pitiful rain girl, who even after a school year of being with a guild of wizards, she hadn't managed to end the gloomy rain. Juvia couldn't control herself. Juvia ended up killing her father."

Juvia hung her head, waiting for Gray to reject her and run away in fear of the girl who was responsible for both of her parents' deaths-one of them intentional.

But Gray didn't run. He only asked, "Why did you kill your dad? Were you just really angry or was there more?"

"Juvia's father, in the time that she was gone, had redecorated her room, the room she stayed in during those weeks between school and camp. He remade it so that it looked exactly like Juvia's old room from when she was five. It was a wretched, pitiful room for a wretched, pitiful, runaway rain girl. Juvia killed him because the first thing he did was show her the room and start talking about her mother's death. He was a terrible man, and Juvia just couldn't stop herself."

Again, she waited for Gray to run, but again, he didn't. In fact, he was about to comfort her and tell her how sure he was that her dad probably had deserved it and was hated by many others who knew him, not just her. She was the brave one who stepped up and took him out. But before he could say anything, they stepped over a line of runes.

Thin edges sprang up from the ground and connected above Juvia's head to form a green, leafy cage around her, and both of them cringed at the sound of a deafening roar.

"Juvia, you okay?" Gray asked before whatever had roared found them.

"Juvia's fine, but Gray-sama should run before danger comes."

"Just don't touch the hedges; they're probably set up just like the ones that make the walls," Gray said, ignoring the second part of her comment.

A thumping sound signaled the approach of their enemy, and soon, a huge mountain vulcan appeared. Vulcans were known to be big and strong, but this vulcan looked like it could very well be twice the size of any regular vulcan.

"Gray-sama, you run, I'll get out of the hedges, defeat this guy, and meet up with you," Juvia suggested.

The vulcan then spotted her and started running towards them, chanting, "Woman, woman, woman!"

"No way," Gray said, getting ready to fight the vulcan. "I won't leave you to fend for yourself against this guy, and don't you dare try to get out of there. I have a feeling it will go away once we defeat the vulcan, but right now, I think even your water touching it would have a harmful effect."

The fight between Gray and the abnormally large vulcan took a very long time. For a creature that had been raised on a mountain of snow and ice, the ice mage's attacks were just that much less effective. _No __wonder __it__'__s __people __like __Macao __who __take __the __requests __to __take __care __of __these __things __and __people __like __Natsu __who __go __to __help __them __out. __It__'__s __being __a __fire __wizard __that __really __comes __in __handy._

The sky grew dark, and Juvia, trapped in her hedges, couldn't bear another minute of just watching. When the vulcan's fist came down on Gray faster than he could Ice Make to stop it, Juvia lost it. Gray stood up form the ground, shaking but still fighting, and she couldn't stand to simply look on and root for him any longer.

Juvia sent some of her water out through an opening between to "bars" of hedge, and Water Locked Gray. She then slipped through the same opening, making her water body flat, and water sliced the vulcan, simple as that.

But before she had time to even think, _Nobody __hurts __Juvia__'__s __Gray-sama __and __goes __unharmed_, and before Gray could even be angry with the risk she took but also grateful, Juvia collapsed.

The Water Lock released Gray, and he ran to her side. "Juvia! Juvia!"

"Juvia's sorry she didn't listen to Gray-sama. Juvia didn't have to touch the hedges…. The runes were all around."

"Juvia, come on, you'll be alright," Gray said, reassuring her just as much as he was reassuring himself. He looked back at the hedge cage, which had disturbed runes showing up all over it in purple. _Pain_, they read. Something about them was familiar, but he ignored it, focusing on the issue at hand.

He looked back at Juvia. She was silent and still, but her face showed it all. Her eyes were squeezed shut, her brows knitted, lips pursed together, trembling. Gray didn't know how to stop it, but he had an idea. He froze the runes, and Juvia immediately relaxed.

"Juvia can protect Gray-sama better than the others," Juvia whispered.

"That may be true, but you really don't have to," Gray insisted.

"Juvia's just too passionate," she said. "She gets worked up about certain things and reacts inappropriately. Maybe that's Juvia's weakness. Maybe Juvia's too passionate."

Gray helped Juvia up and held her shoulders. "Maybe that's what the challenger thinks, that it's a weakness. You are very passionate, but I like passionate people." With that, he leaned down and kissed her.

The rush of joy that had mesmerized Juvia before returned, but it'd grown far stronger. Utter happiness resonated through her with such force, such passion, that she felt she might never wake up from this dream come true.

Remembering the maze, they parted, and continued walking, hand in hand. "Another thing I like about you, Juvia, is how understanding you are," Gray told her. "Earlier, when I told you about how I came to Fairy Tail, you referred to Ur as you would any other living person, but everyone else talks about her like she's dead."

"Juvia was still with Phantom when Gray fought Lyon on Galuna island, but she heard about it. Ur-san is still alive. Ur-san is the ocean." This meant a lot to Gray, coming from Juvia. Juvia of the Deep knew better than anyone just how alive the ocean really is.

Gray smiled, so happy to have someone who finally go it so completely, so happy he'd been paired with Juvia.

They found the maze's center shortly, a circular opening with a large clock at nine twenty-two on the ground. Their maze opened next to Erza, but they saw Freed with Laxus and Cana with Macao on the other side. Everyone had the time of their arrival written above their heads. After a second of seeing the pairs across from them and hoping it confirmed her old theory, Juvia noticed the way Erza, Macao, and Cana were staring at Freed. Gray noticed it too and realized what was familiar about the runes before. _Freed, __you __bastard, _he thought.


	6. Shot Through the Heart

When the voice of the challenger yelled for them to go, Alzack and Bisca began the maze grinning. They grew up together and went on requests together. They were a perfect pair to conquer this challenge together. Neither of them could even think about what their weakness could be.

"You know," Alzack said after a while of walking, "the weakness they pick for us is going to be something neither of us expects, so just be prepared, I guess."

"Don't worry, Alzack," Bisca told him. "I doubt we even have a weakness. It's going to take a lot to hurt our team."

Alzack smiled. She was right: whatever this challenger threw at them, he and Bisca would get through it.

"Oh, hey, so I never got a chance to show you: I got a new gun," Bisca said, requipping a gun into her hand. It was fairly small, but jet black in color and really beautiful.

_Beautiful __like __its __owner_, Alzack thought, looking at Bisca, who was aiming the gun as if she were about to shoot, pointing out certain parts of it that offered different features. She spun it around her finger, and Alzack gulped at how hot she was.

"It's got this cool feature, a fire shot that's powerful enough to rival Natsu's Fire Dragon Fist. Of course, I'm not crazy enough to challenge him, but I'm thinking after this is all taken care of, I'd like to try it out against Macao."

"I can't wait!" Alzack said.

They walked on, taking turns, backtracking, taking different turns, and so on. They stopped once to rest. There was a dead end that had particularly thick grass that looked comfortable to sit down in for a bit. Bisca watched Alzack fiddle with one of his guns, loading it with his favorite type of magic bullet: sunlight bullets.

The real sun shone down on the form above the maze. It reflected off Alzack's black hair and lit up his dark, smooth skin like a fine fabric. Bisca could picture a beam of light shining from behind him, casting his dark and dreamy silhouette. Bisca often came off as the down-to-earth, edgy, girl with a slew of guns, but when she felt like it, she could get pretty romantic and girly.

She loved watching Alzack care for his guns. He focused on them so intently, and his eyes took on a sharp beauty that captivated her. "You want to keep moving?" she asked.

"Sure," Alzack agreed with a grin, tucking his gun away under his poncho. They started to walk away, and Alzack pondered whether or not this would be a good time to tell Bisca how he felt about her. She was clearly very beautiful and a strong mage, but apart form that, she was simply fun to be with. Alzack felt like they fit so well together. He was the slightly quiet one, while she brought an excited energy to the table whenever they hung out.

He had come to the decision to tell her. She could be a bit intimidating, but when Alzack set his mind to doing what he felt should be done, he did it. No matter what. "Um, Bisca," he called. She was a bit ahead of him and had just turned a corner.

"Whoa, Alzack, come check this out!" she yelled back.

He caught up with her and saw a large clearing in the maze that held a respectable obstacle course. As soon as they both stepped towards it, runes appeared behind them, forcing them to move forward through the course.

"So, Bisca-"

"No turning back, now!" she interrupted when Alzack tried to confess his love. "Looks like fun," she said, requipping a gun, which she shot at the obstacles, but the beam of destruction was deflected by runes. "Guess we'll have to go it bare-handed."

"Right," Alzack said, always up for anything as long as Bisca was involved. They flew through the course, jumping, grabbing, climbing, balancing, avoiding rune traps laid on the ground beneath them.

"Yee-haw!" Bisca exclaimed as she swung over runes that promised certain death.

She was fearless, and Alzack loved it. When they finally made it to the other side, both were breathless and smiling.

"Nice," Bisca said, putting her hat, which had fallen, back on her head. "I hope the rest of this is that easy. If physically overcoming obstacles is what the challenger thinks our weakness is, he couldn't have been spying for very long." Alzack stared at how her light green hair flew through the air when she tossed it aside and how her purple eyes sparked in the setting sun.

Suddenly, it struck him. Purple like runes, green hair like Freed. Alzack pushed his love confession and daydreams aside for a bit to focus on the matter at hand: the challenge. "Bisca, I've been thinking about the challenger. Do you think it could be Freed?"

"What? No way!" Bisca scoffed. "Freed is a loyal member of the guild, a member of our family."

"Sorry, I just feel like it's a bit suspicious with the runes… and Laxus! Come on: the challenge just happens to fall during the week Laxus is here, and he's requested even though he's not in the guild anymore. You see this, right Bisca?"

Bisca glared at him. "Yes, the Laxus detail is a suspicious coincidence, but I won't suspect Freed of something like this until I get more proof." The sky was growing dark, and the shine of Alzack's hair melted away. His skin didn't glow, and Bisca saw how ridiculous and accusatory he was being. "You can't just jump to conclusion like that, Alzack. Why would Freed to something like this?"

Alzack was so frustrated with Bisca. _The __maze __has __definitely __found __her __weakness_, he thought. _She__'__s __far __too __forgiving_. "He's done it before—and with Laxus! You were turned to stone by Evergreen, his teammate, and I fought our friends just to get out of his rune traps so I could save you! You remember all that, right? You were hurt taking out the first of Laxus's lacrima, and Freed admires Laxus too much for him not to be guilty by association for that."

Bisca couldn't even look at him. She loved Alzack, but he was in one of those moods he gets in when he believes something so thoroughly and just has to prove it. Normally, Bisca agreed with him on these things, but not this. "Alzack, that's not fair to Freed. He's not like he was during the battle of Fairy Tail. I trust him now."

Alzack was shocked by how much trust Bisca could give to people who didn't deserve it. "Bisca, really?"

"Shut up, Alzack! Don't you 'Bisca, really?' me," Bisca spit, requipping her new gun. "I'm solving the rest of this maze alone. If we meet up later, great, but right now, when you've got this accusatory mindset, I just don't want to deal with you." She ran, sprinting, and took the first turn she came to, hoping Alzack wouldn't try to follow her. While she needed time alone to think, she also just didn't want him so see how the tears began to well up in her eyes.

When Bisca ran from him, it took all of Alzack's willpower just to keep his feet planted in the ground and resist the urge to follow her. He knew Bisca well. After a long while of standing there at the end of the obstacle course, Alzack forced himself to turn and walk through the maze, to move away from Bisca. She'd never been so angry with him.

Bisca kept running. She ran and ran and ran until she knew she was lost enough that Alzack would never find her. _Maybe __I __overreacted_, she thought, but the other side of her argued, _No, __Alzack__'__s __the __one __who __overreacted. __His__ "__evidence__" __is __such __a __long __shot. __That __the __challenger __uses __runes __and __requested __Laxus __are __simple __coincidences_.

Bisca wanted to stick up for freed, so she would stick up for Freed. That's how she rolled. Bisca was the one who never gave up on a fight and never turned down a challenge. Even if it killed her. She was just thinking about how she really didn't want it to have to be Alzack, her best friend, that she was arguing with when she noticed movement from the corner of her eye.

Whipping her gun towards the hedge she'd seen the movement near, Bisca reveled in the idea of having a chance to fire it. "Come out slowly," she ordered.

Six shades, just like those that Phantom Lord used against Fairy Tail, sprang out from around a corner and flew down on her. She took out four of them, but one of the other two flew through her, knocking her out.

Alzack heard four loud blasts followed by Bisca's scream. He flipped out his gun and sprinted back through the maze until he was back at the end of the obstacle course. _I __should__'__ve __followed __her __before_, she scolded himself as he hurriedly fumbled around the hedges, calling her name repeatedly.

"Bisca! Bisca, I'm coming!" Soon, two shades, the ones that had attacked Bisca, came towards him. He hit them with his sunlight shot and moved on quickly, running in the direction they'd come from. "Bisca, hold on!" he yelled again, though he'd never gotten an answer before.

He found Bisca barely awake. She was lying on the ground with her eyes closed, but she was breathing. Her face looked like she was in pain, and her breathing was rapid, but she was awake, and she was alive. "Bisca, it'll be okay," Alzack said, kneeling next to her.

"Alzack," she mumbled, and he lowered his head so that she wouldn't have to talk as loud for him to hear. "Alzack, I'm so sorry I ran off…. But you know, we have to trust Freed…. If we start turning on each other, on our guildmates, it'll only end badly."

Alzack smiled. Even when injured by darkness magic, Bisca kept any fight up until it was won. "Fine," Alzack said gently. "If you trust him this much, even after all he did, I guess I have no choice but to trust him too."

Bisca smiled and put a hand on Alzack's cheek, which reminded him that he had decided to tell her that he loved her. "Hey, help me up," Bisca directed, and he half carried her up onto her feet. "Thanks, Alzack." She hooked an arm around his neck and started to walk forward, positive that they were close to the finish, but Alzack stopped her.

"Bisca, I have to tell you something." Alzack took her hand to unwind her arm from his neck, but once he did, he didn't let go. "For a while, actually, I've been meaning to tell you, but I told myself I'd finally tell you today. Bisca Mulan—"

Bisca put a finger to his lips to shut him up and gave him a fleeting kiss on the cheek, his smooth, dark cheek that she'd always so admired. "Let's just finish the maze, okay, teammate?" she said, smiling.

He grinned. "Okay."

They walked the short distance of the maze that was left, Bisca's arm around Alzack's neck and his around her waist. When they came to the center, a circular clearing with a large clock that showed the time as nine thirty on the ground, they found that most of the thirteen mages were already there, all with times written above their heads. Everyone was glaring at Freed, whose eyes were wide, except for Laxus, who stood next to Freed under the same archway and just glared back at everyone else. Bisca felt terrible for Freed, knowing that everyone else must've had the same idea as Alzack. She just caught Laxus and Freed's eyes and gave them a sympathetic smile. Alzack, on the other hand, saw everyone's glares and knew his old accusation had been correct.


	7. Key of Fire

Lucy tugged at Natsu's arm, trying to drag him through the grass. "Natsu, get up! What transportation are you sick from, anyway?"

"Mmphupumfum," Natsu responded.

"Ugh!" Lucy groaned in exasperation. If only Happy were there to carry him, or Wendy to treat him with Troia. Seeing no other option, as he wasn't dragging very well, she hoisted him over her shoulder. "There, now I'll just wait for you to wake up because you're just _so __helpful_," she said sarcastically.

"Pufumfusmurfumpufufum," Natsu mumbled, and Lucy partially understood: she was transportation to him.

She dropped him to the ground. Though they'd only moved a short distance, Natsu was heavy, and Lucy had to catch her breath. She put her hands to her hips and felt her key pouch clipped to her belt. _Oh, __right, __I __could __use __a __spirit_. "Open, Gate of the Maiden," she called, taking out an ornate gold key with a spade-shaped tip and drawing it through the air, "Virgo!"

The girl with pink hair and a maid outfit shot up from the ground, spinning so that the chains that hung from her wrists flew around her. "What type of punishment today, Princess?"

"None, just carry Natsu for me. I don't care if he wakes up and walks or sees you as transportation; I just want to get moving."

"Excellent choice, Princess," Virgo said, lifting Natsu with ease.

"It's not supposed to be punishment, Virgo, just some I need your help with. And please, stop calling me Princess." After a long while of being carried by Virgo, Natsu still looked just as sick as before. "Gosh, Natsu, you'd think the challenger thought transportation was your only weakness," Lucy teased him.

"It _is_ my only weakness!" Natsu yelled and went back to being sick.

Lucy rolled her eyes. "Come on, Natsu. I know Virgo would rather not be carrying you, so just get up and walk if you feel like she's transportation."

"Fine!" Natsu snapped, jumping our of Virgo's arms.

Virgo said, "I don't mind the punishment, Princess," but Lucy only laughed and closed her gate. "Goodbye, Princess." Virgo bowed as she vanished.

Natsu got up and started walking as if he had never been sick, "Come, Lucy. Don't dawdle."

Lucy rolled her eyes but followed him. "Why do you think you get so motion sick all the time?"

He ignored her, moving forward rather happily, intent on showing this ignorant challenger what Fairy Tail was made of. Lucy noticed that he kept glancing at the hedges as he walked, until after rounding a corner, he stopped at crouched down to examine them.

"Hey, Lucy," he wondered. "This guy thinks he's so smart protecting the hedges with runes, but in all the time he's spied on us, he's obviously never seen anyone jump," he said, standing and looking determinedly and the sky.

"Natsu, stop!" Lucy screeched, grabbing his arm just as he was about to leap into the sky to get a look at the maze from above. "You don't know that the top of the maze doesn't have runes as well, and this isn't exactly the way to test it. Let's just do this fairly."

Natsu grudgingly agreed with her and kept walking, Lucy still holding his arm. He didn't notice much—Lucy was grabbing on to him all the time on requests when something startled her or she needed saving—but Lucy did notice. She noticed how muscular his arm was and how what she really wanted was for him to wrap his strong arms around her and just hold her for a long time.

Lucy shook her head and retracted her hand from his arm. She'd had this fantasy before, and it didn't turn out like she'd pictured. At the time, she'd also decided that Natsu tended to get really immature and act thirteen years younger than he really was. She pondered this as she remembered the sight of him dancing on a table with Happy, trying to mimic Plu.

"What's so funny?" Natsu asked when Lucy giggled at the memory.

"Nothing."

"Okay, then!" Natsu said with a wide grin. Just then, a movement in the sky caught his eye, and he looked up just in time to see a great, brown dragon fly above them. "Ohmygodit'sadragon!" he yelled excitedly, and before Lucy could stop him, he used his Fire Dragon Fists to propel himself into the air.

"Natsu!" Lucy yelled, but he was already nearing the tops of the fifty-foot hedges.

When he reached them, Natsu crashed into a ceiling of runes that read "Useless." Falling back down, he landed on top of Lucy.

_And __he __calls __me __the __useless __one_, Lucy thought. She pushed Natsu off of her and started to grab Virgo's key but decided to chose someone else to carry Natsu instead. She felt bad calling Virgo twice within such a short time, making her go back and forth.

The blonde mage whipped out another golden key, this one with an axe-shaped end, and drew it through the air the same way she did before. "Open, Gate of the Bull, Taurus!"

"Moooo!" the bull exclaimed as he appeared, flexing his muscles. "Lucy, your nice body looks very good today!" he complimented her as he usually did.

At first, Lucy would blush when he called her hot, being the insecure person she was, but by then she'd gotten used to it. "Taurus, will you carry Natsu for me. He jumped right into runes of uselessness, but we really need to get a move on and find the center of this maze."

"Of course, Lucy," Taurus said, slinging Natsu across his back, sandwiched between him and his huge axe. "You seem a bit mooore badass than normal," he said, walking with Lucy.

To this, Lucy blushed. Coming from Taurus, who normally only commented on her boobs, this meant a lot. Actually, it would mean a lot coming from anyone. She knew that around the guild, she was seen as the one who couldn't do anything special. A few people underestimated Levy in this way as well, but they had her small size as justification; they had absolutely no reason to think Lucy was powerless but for what they saw her do to help with requests, which was often very little.

"Thank you, Taurus."

Suddenly, they saw a figure a ways down the path. He stood tall, but didn't appear particularly muscular. He was wearing a long dark green jacket and had a thin black braid of hair. His skin was pale, and the way he stood just radiated with elegance overshadowed by arrogance. When they got closer, they stopped, and he smiled wickedly with narrowed eyes. To Lucy, he looked like a snake.

"Who are you?" Taurus demanded.

"Oh, I'm no one special," the man said in a deep, sneaky voice that made Lucy even more weary of him.

"Well, you're still here in the maze we have to solve, so we'd like to know who you are!" Lucy yelled.

The man rolled his eyes and took a snake-like step towards them. "Fine, my name is Stilio Volans, but don't mind me. I'm just passing through. My dragon has gone missing, you see, and I'm just walking about, trying to find it." He smiled another wicked, snake-like smile that had _LIE_ written all over it.

"Are you the challenger?" Lucy asked.

"Heavens no," Stilio said. "I know your challenger well, but I'm only here to repay a favor."

"You sent your dragon flying over here because you knew Natsu would hit the runes trying to follow it, didn't you?" Lucy accused.

Stilio sighed. "I may have, but regardless of the reason for this boy's situation, his impulsive behavior is a bit of a weakness. Not to mention his complete lack of all sense and reason whenever anyone mentions dragons. It all seems so childish to me," he droned.

Lucy clenched her teeth. How dare he insult one of Fairy Tail's most valuable members like that. Sure, she'd been calling Natsu childish earlier that same day, but as a member of Fairy Tail and Natu's friend and teammate, she was allowed to poke fun at him. This guy was not.

"Taurus!" she said, and the bull jumped into action.

"I'll take good care of him, Lucy, and protect your nice body!" Dropping Natsu, Taurus pulled his axe off of his back and ran towards Stilio. "Moooo!"

Stilio nimbly avoided Taurus's attacks, moving like a snake. As he slithered around Taurus, his hands burst out to strike him in the neck, shoulder blades, arms, and thighs. Taurus gasped and fell, immobilized.

"I'm sorry, Lucy. I can't move," he called back.

"That's okay, Taurus," she said, closing his gate and summoning a different spirit. One who was strong in body and magic, but more nimble and better suited to defeat this snake of a man. "Open, Gate of the Lion," she cried out, drawing yet another golden key, this one with an end that resembled flames and a lion's head handle, "Leo!"

Her old friend, Loke, appeared before her, ready to help. "You want me to take care of this guy, Lucy?"

Lucy smiled, confident in her post powerful spirit and he leader of the Zodiac spirits. "Yes, Loke, but be careful and try not to get too close if you don't have to: he uses pressure points to disable his opponents.

Loke gave a curt nod and rushed towards the snake man, his glasses gleaming and two balls of light forming around his fists.

"Go, Loke!" Lucy cheered as Loke struck Stilio time and time again. Stilio, though he appeared to be losing, was still smiling. He evaded most of Loke's attacks but let himself be hit by others.

"What are you doing?" Loke growled.

Stilio cackled and flit away from Loke. "I've done my job here. Farewell." He vanished, but his wicked smile and yellow snake eyes remained in Lucy's mind.

"That was odd," Loke said, suspicious. "I'll just be heading back to the spirit world, then."

"Wait!" Lucy called, and Loke, half-gone, reappeared. "You should stay."

Loke smiled and rushed over to her, taking her hand with his and sliding his other around her back. "I'd stay with you forever, Lucy."

Though smiling and blushing, Lucy put her hands to Loke's chest and pushed him away. "Just carry Natsu for me."

"Sure thing!" Loke picked up Natsu's sleeping body and followed Lucy forward.

Deep in his subconscious, Natsu was dreaming. He dreamt himself on a boat, sailing over the ocean. Below him, the recently revealed water dragon, Maryn, was swimming and leading him.

"_Natsu_," a voice called form behind him.

Turning, he saw a girl leaning against the mast. She was slightly shorter than him with a slender figure, big blue eyes, and very short hair. This hair was the same color as her sister, Mira's. "_L-Lisanna?__" _

"_Hey, __Natsu_," she said, walking towards him.

Natsu needed no reason to explain how she was alive: this was the world of a dream. "_I __didn__'__t __know __you__'__d __decided __to __come __with_." Natsu's dream mind knew that he was on another expedition to find Igneel, following Maryn to his island. Lisanna was going to stay at Fairy Tail, but apparently decided to come along.

"_Well, __I __couldn__'__t __let __you __and __our __son __go __on __a __dangerous __venture __like __this __all __alone_," she said.

"_Aye!_" Happy cheered, flying up in front of Natsu.

"_Well, __I__'__m __glad __you__'__re __here_," Natsu said, pulling Lisanna into a hug.

The waves splashed up onto the deck, growing higher and more reckless. Natsu looked into the water, and Maryn was gone. Thunder roared overhead, and rain began to fall down on them.

A large wave jostled the boat so that Lisanna fell into Natsu and they kissed. "_I __miss __you, __Natsu_," she whispered before vanishing into thin air.

Natsu searched for her frantically, but the lightning lit up the sky, crashing to bring him to reality. Lisanna was gone.

"_Natsu_," Happy said, flying into his arms. The waves died down, and the rain reduced to a drizzle. "_I __miss_ _Lisanna_."

Holding the blue cat in his arms, Natsu sighed, "_Yeah, __I __miss __her __too_."

When he felt Natsu stir, Loke stopped walking. "Natsu, you waking up?"

"Erm… huh?" Nastus muttered, returning to consciousness. "Put me down! I don't need you help!" Loke dropped him and smiled.

"Let's go, Lucy said, motioning for them to follow. Without having to carry Natsu anymore, Lucy thought Loke would return to the spirit world, but he stayed. Loke and Lucy walked side-by-side, talking about the guild, the spirits, and other things.

Natsu trailed behind, watching them. He'd known Loke for three years longer than Lucy had, and even she'd had time to see what a womanizer he could be. Even though Loke didn't talk to any other girls in the human world and seemed to have a thing for Lucy, Natsu was sure he had at least a few spirit girlfriends that Lucy didn't know about. _He__'__s __still __the __player __he__'__s __always __been_, Natsu thought and clenched his fists when he saw Loke take Lucy's hand. She leaned her head on Loke's shoulder, and Natsu snapped.

"Hey, Loke! So, I haven't talked to you much since you got all 'Leo' and stuff. How's the spirit world been, good?"

"Um, yeah," Loke said, wondering why Natsu was acting to hostile. "It felt good to be back after so long."

"Oh, yeah," Natsu agreed with fake sincerity, "I'm sure it was hard being trapped here for so long with only your hundreds of girlfriends to console you."

Lucy couldn't believe how rude Natsu was being to Loke. "Natsu, why would you say that?"

Ignoring her, Natsu continued to badger Loke. "I was also wondering how your spirit girlfriends, of which I'm sure you had many, took to you being gone. Where'd they think you were, and how happy were they when you finally returned to them?"

"A-actually-" Loke started, but Lucy intervened.

"Nastu!" she said forcefully. "Stop prying into Loke's personal life and making ignorant assumptions. If he had dozens of spirits girlfriends, I would know. I've been looking into my spirits' relationships in order to understand them better, and his only girlfriend is Aries." To this, Natsu smiled. Making moves on Lucy while having only one girlfriend was still bad.

Loke stepped in to speak for himself. "Actually, I don't have any girlfriends. Aires and I have history and a connection, but we're just good friends. Lucy, you're the only one I love no matter what world I'm in."

Lucy was speechless, but Natsu, determined to get rid of Loke, kept talking. "Stop wasting your time, Loke! We know you're more than friends with Aires and probably many others, but that doesn't matter. What matters is that Lucy's too good for you, anyway, and she'll never love you, so just shut up and go away!"

Lucy stared at Natsu in rage. She did have feelings for Loke. She'd been trying to keep their relationship professional, but what's the point in that? "Natsu, you shut up!" she yelled at him and grabbed Loke's face, pulling him into a kiss.

She'd wanted to kiss him since she first came to Fairy Tail. Even after seeing him with all those girls, she'd always loved him. When he became her spirit, she knew she'd get the chance some day. Today was the day. Loke felt the same. When Lucy walked into the guild that first time, he almost wished he hadn't had a few of his girlfriends clinging to him, but didn't show it. He knew he'd get her to love him some day. Today, the lion was leaping with joy.

Natsu gagged. He couldn't believe Lucy would be into someone like Loke. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he knew he felt like this about Loke when he was with Lucy even though he didn't care at all about Loke with any of his others, because he wanted to be kissing Lucy himself. In Natsu's mind, Loke could womanize anyone he wanted, just not Lucy. However, Natsu quickly pushed the thought away. He had better things to do than think about girls all the time.

When Loke and Lucy broke apart, Loke took one look at Natsu's face and said to Lucy, "I should go. I'm making Natsu uncomfortable. Call me anytime." With a wink, he disappeared, and Lucy marched forward, ignoring Natsu.

When they got to the circular clearing that was the maze's center, five other teams were already there, and the clack in the ground read nine thirty. Almost everyone—Laxus and Bisca being the exceptions—was staring at Freed. Lucy and Natsu had been in so much emotional restlessness that they didn't realize the possibility of Freed being the one who set up the maze and challenged Fairy Tail. Now that they thought about it, it would make perfect sense if he had.


	8. A Book of Iron Pages

Gajeel and Levy began to walk through the maze, which was either surprisingly easy or cunningly difficult. They came to very few dead ends, but they could've been heading down a long path that lead to nowhere and have to go all the way back to find their way. Levy'd almost completely gotten over how Gajeel'd underestimated her on their request, and she was talking to him like normal.

"Jet and Droy aren't talking right now, which makes our team dynamic incredibly uncomfortable. They're normally such good friends, we all are," she told him.

Gajeel had no interest in Jet and Droy, weak idiots, but he did care about Levy. "Yeah, what happened?"

Levy let out a heavy breath. "It's dumb, really. Jet was running around one night, slap-happy I guess, and he trampled Droy's garden. In the morning, Droy confronted him about it, but Jet tried to blame it on wild animals, though he was clearly at fault."

"What's so important about Droy's stupid garden that he has to give his best friend the silent treatment?"

"He uses plant magic, and he grows most of the plants that he harvests his magic seeds from himself. Jet's carelessness cost Droy a lot of magical resources," Levy explained.

Gajeel gave a soft laugh. He remembered Droy's plant magic now that she mentioned it. Levy's two teammates had attacked him right after he joined Fairy Tail: payback for what he did to them for Phantom Lord. Gajeel looked at Levy. She was bouncing along beside him, her wavy blue hair dancing around her head. Every time he thought of that night, he wanted to beat himself to a bloody pulp. How could he have done something so terrible to this adorable little girl? True, she was seventeen years old, hardly little age-wise, but in appearance, she was quite tiny.

Thinking about Team Shadow Gear, which consisted of Jet, Droy, and Levy, Gajeel decided that Levy may actually be the team's most powerful member. He laughed again, finding it hard to see Levy as the most powerful of anything. She was just too cute and little: something to be protected.

"Gajeel?" Levy said, raising an eyebrow when she caught him staring at her with a smirk on his studded face. "What's so funny?"

"Nothing," he said, brushing her off. "I was just thinking about how cute it is that you're the most powerful member on your team."

"How is that funny or cute?"

"Well, it means you've got a pretty weak team, is all." The words slipped from Gajeel's mouth before he could catch them or see how offensive they were.

Levy scoffed. "There you go again, underestimating me and insisting I'm some weak little girl who can't take care of herself and drags two clowns around with her! Why can't you just be confident in my magic for once?"

"I'm sorry, you're right: Jet and Droy are a couple of clowns," Gajeel hooted.

Levy strode ahead of him. "I'm going ahead. Stay at least ten feet behind me and absolutely silent. I don't want to have to talk to you."

"Why are we bothering with the maze, anyway? We're mages! Can't we just cut through the hedges?"

Levy gave up. There's no way Gajeel would agree not to talk to her. "They're protected by some pretty dangerous runes, so don't even try it."

"Yeah, but can't you just rewrite them like you did to Freed's during the battle of Fairy Tail?"

"Don't you think that's the first thing I tried when I saw them?" she snapped at him. "These are more powerful than Freed's. I can't rewrite them, and I bet he can't either, wherever he is."

"Hmph." Gajeel didn't get her. One minute she was complaining that he didn't have confidence in her, and the next she says she can't do what needs to be done.

Eventually, Levy let Gajeel catch up and walk beside her, and they talked again. "Why do you have so many piercings?" Levy wondered.

"There was one request I went on—I barely remember the details of it, but I was trying to get his guy. He ended up trapping me in some kind of cell made of stone, so I couldn't use metal to get out. Obviously, I just whipped up some dragon slayer awesomeness and took care of it all, but it felt so unnerving to not be in contact with any metal whatsoever, that I decided I should have a good supply of metal with me at all times. The earrings came first. Somewhere along the line, I lost my eyebrows, and they never grew back, so I replaced them with studs. The others followed 'cause I wanted more metal on me and liked how it looked."

"Oh, that's an interesting story," Levy said, glad to have an excuse for her staring. She liked how it looked too.

Out of nowhere, two figures appeared down the path. One was a tall, muscular young man with long, shaggy black hair, dark clothes, and a lot of piercings. The other was a short girl in a yellow-orange dress and armband-sleeves with wavy blue hair that had a plaid headband tied around it that matched her clothes and a pink flower stuck into the side of it. Gajeel and Levy could've been looking in a mirror, but one thing as wrong: the sides they were standing on were flipped so that Gajeel faced the mysterious Levy, and Levy faced the mysterious Gajeel.

Both pairs walked forward until they were face-to-face in the center of a wide clearing. Runes sprouted up from the ground to trap Levy with Maze-Gajeel and Gajeel with Maze-Levy on separate sides.

"Who are you?" the iron dragon growled. "What's going on?"

The maze versions of the two mages stood silently before them until writing appeared on the runes: _Fight_. Maze-Levy rushed towards Gajeel stinging him with Solid Script.

_What? __I __can__'__t __fight __Levy. __She__'__s __too __helpless_, Gajeel thought, despite the respectable attacks Maze-Levy was throwing at him. Levy, on the other hand was giving it her all against Maze-Gajeel and actually got a few hits on him. "Wait, Levy! Just hold on till I beat this… you… and I'll come over and help you beat me."

Levy rolled her eyes and caught Maze-Gajeel in a floating pit of Solid Script quicksand. No matter what happened, Gajeel had absolutely no respect for her power. "I can handle you myself, Gajeel. How about you stop being mean to me and focus on beating the other me!" It's not like he could help her even she wanted him to. The runes wouldn't allow it.

Gajeel, in offering his help to Levy, had turned his back to his opponent and didn't even notice that she was running up behind him with the word "fire" blazing in the air in front of her. Gajeel flipped around and struck her as hard as he could with his iron pillar arm. The sight of Levy, hurt by his hand, recalled painful memories for him, enough to distract him just enough for Maze-Levy to roll around and trip him. Once he was down, she smashed a Solid Script stone down on his back repeatedly.

Levy glanced over for just a second, worrying that the maze clones were more powerful than the originals—she was powerful, but she doubted she could beat Gajeel, normally—and that the Gajeel she was fighting would be even worse. _Do __we __even __stand __a __chance?_ she thought, but shook the thought from her mind. Giving up wasn't the Fairy Tail way.

Maze-Gajeel, still suspended in quicksand, shot his Iron Dragon Roar towards her, and she narrowly dodged it.

"Levy!" Gajeel called from the other side, where he was rolling out from under Maze-Levy's stone and jumping back up, though his body ached from the beating.

"I'm fine, Gajeel!" Levy shouted back. The side of her body that was hit had several bad scratches and a few deeper cuts, but she'd tend to them later. Now, she had to fight. The two original mages exchanged a glance saying, _good __luck_, and charged towards the clones.

_I__'__m __not __losing __to __Gajeel __now_, Levy told herself. _I__'__ll __show __him __what __happens __when __I__'__m __underestimated_.

_She__'__s __not __the __real __Levy_, Gajeel had to remind himself when he felt his attacks hesitate. _But __she __is __just __as __weak. __I__'__ll __take __care __of __her __and __then __find __a __way __to __help __the __real __Levy __with __my __clone_.

Before anyone could notice what was happening, the maze shifted, moving the ground so that the two fights moved towards instead of alongside each other. The runes disintegrated, and the copies vanished, but the originals couldn't see it and ran for each other, thinking themselves to be enemies. It was Gajeel who noticed when he turned to check up on the real Levy's fight that no one was there anymore, and the Levy in front of him had different wounds than she had before.

"Levy, stop! The clones are gone! I'm the real Gajeel!" he insisted.

But Levy didn't stop, she sprang into the air and flew down onto him with a blazing Solid Script Fire. "Die, Gajeel!"

"Levy!"

She crashed into him, the fire singeing his hair and heating his piercings so that they stung his skin. When Gajeel opened his eyes, he found himself lying on the ground with Levy, the real Levy, sitting on top of him. "I win," she said. "Who's weak now?"

"Ugh," Gajeel moaned, rolling over so that she fell off of him and standing up. "Sorry I was so mean to you earlier."

"And everyday," Levy added. She didn't want to fight with Gajeel; she actually kind of liked him. "Come on," she said, pulling him forward into the maze.

Gajeel marveled at how the soft little hand that held his could wield so much power. She beat him. She was amazing. "Hey, uh, Levy?"

"Yeah?" When she turned towards him, her green eyes sparkled in he moonlight like nothing he'd ever seen before, and it took his breath away. Well, he had seen something like it before: he'd seen those eyes sparkling that night months ago. The night he regretted with everything he was. "Gajeel, what's wrong?"

"Levy, I need to tell you something," he began, taking her hands. "Lately, I can't stop thinking about…." He couldn't even finish his sentence. Gajeel wasn't a very emotional guy, but if he didn't tell Levy how he felt now, when would his next chance like this be?

"What? What is it?" Levy pressed. She knew what he wanted to say, or at least the gist of it. After all, she was thinking the same thing. She was thinking about how even though he hurt her and her friends, he cared about her now, and she cared about him.

"Shorty, you are so beautiful," he got out after a bit of stuttering and choking. "And, fighting you back there, it made me think about how strong you really are. That night I attacked you and your team, I was being stupid. No one else knows this, but I wasn't specifically ordered to hurt anyone in Fairy Tail, just provoke the guild. I saw you walking, and I knew it would work all too well."

"Gajeel, where are you going with this? I know you're sorry for what you did, but that's behind us now. What's wrong, Gajeel?" Levy hated seeing Gajeel stumble over his words when she knew exactly what he was trying to tell her. She didn't stop him, though. This was something he needed to say.

"Levy, when I saw the three of you walking that night, my first thought was how gorgeous you were. I saw Jet and Droy and wanted to beat them up solely because they were in a place I could never be: you cared for them. Jealousy took over me. You remember I took them out first and… and then you…. I hurt them out of jealousy, I hurt you simply because it would look strange if I didn't. And now, I look at you every day and all I can see is the monster I let myself become that night. Every time I touch you, I feel something I hurt, something fragile—but powerful—that I should've been protecting rather than breaking. Levy, I love you. I know don't deserve your love in return, but you make me want to be a better person."

Heart soaring, Levy sprang into his arms, wrapping her arms around his neck, where her hands clutched his shaggy hair, and kissed him. She kissed him because she loved him, because he loved her, because she forgave him, because he deserved forgiveness, and because he was there with her, under the night sky.

Gajeel, stunned but overjoyed, finally relaxed and wrapped his strong, studded arms around her little body. Stumbling back a bit, he fell to the ground, and she was on top of him again.

Levy looked down at him. His eyes were happier than she'd ever seen them, probably happier than they'd ever been. They were red eyes, eyes she should be afraid of. But Levy had come to love a lot of things she should normally fear. She could still feel the cold paint of the Phantom Lord sign on her belly and her shoulders still ached when she remembered how she was hung up in that tree. Her entire body could recall the pain of the night she met Gajeel, and yet, she still looked down into his dangerous red eyes with love.

Gajeel looked up into her dazzling hazel eyes and wondered how he ever could've gotten so lucky. Her blue hair dangled down, tickling his face, and her mouth was only a few inches from his. She moved it slightly lower, and he reached up to kiss her again. He couldn't believe that this beautiful, fragile, brilliant flower could grow in the darkness of his dragon's den, brightening his world.

"We should keep moving," Levy whispered.

Gajeel agreed and swept her up into his arms. They walked until they came to the center, a wide circular clearing, at nine forty, according to the large clock in the ground. Most of the other mages were staring at Freed accusingly, and the two of them felt an ache. Freed was innocent. Those runes weren't his. But soon, the glares were broken as everyone turned their attention to the clock, which had started to glow. All thirteen mages were present.


	9. The Challenger

Pair by pair, the thirteen mages gathered at the center of the maze, each with the time of their arrival written in light pen above their heads. All but four of the mages—Laxus, Bisca, Levy, and Gajeel—glared at Freed accusingly. They saw him as the previously treacherous rune mage of the guild, whose expelled "friend" had been mysteriously requested.

Freed couldn't take it anymore: his guildmates hated him for something he didn't do. Looking at Levy, Gajeel, and Bisca's sympathetic smiles, he was slightly comforted, but he was really just glad Laxus was there with him.

Laxus knew exactly how Freed felt and took his hand to reassure him that everything would be alright and that he was there for him. While in the maze, Laxus tried to share his feelings with Freed and tell him that he truly cared for him—loved him, even—but his communication issue wouldn't let him voice it properly.

A wave of relief washed over both of them when the clock in the ground lit up, distracting the glaring mages. "Congratulations, Fairy Tail!" the voice of the challenger, whose face they still had yet to see, resonated through their bones. "Each pair fell to its weakness, but each was able to pick itself back up and find the maze's center. You've proven Fairy Tail's worth, today."

"Hey!" Natsu tried to shout, still offended that the guild's worth had ever been questioned. However, no sound escaped his mouth. The center was silenced by runes, which explained to him now why no one had yelled at Freed yet.

"All will be explained when we meet," the voice continued.

Juvia smiled widely. Everyone was excited—some angry, some eager-but none so much as her. This challenger was an enemy of Fairy Tail, but even so, he did her a great favor that day. It was because of him that she'd gotten to spend a whole day alone with her Gray, share her past with him, save his life, and earn his love. Of course, It was also because of the challenger that Gray's life had been in danger in the first place, which Juvia could never forgive, but all people had both light and dark sides. Most of the other mages felt similarly. All of them were put in danger, all of them had a loved one put in danger, and all of them had their guild insulted and town threatened, but all of them were brought closer to those they loved.

"Step into the teleportation vortex," the challenger told them, "and you will be brought to my mansion, Magnolia will be safe, and we can discuss this whole mess."

The fairies exchanged glances, weary of falling into another of this challenger's tricks. Erza was the first to cut the crap, walking bravely straight into the light and being consumed by it. The others rushed to follow her, all pairs but for Natsu and Lucy-since Lucy was still mad at Natsu for how he treated Loke—holding hands and leaping into the light together. Bisca grabbed her hat as she and Alzack fell into the whoosh of the teleportation vortex. The light surrounded them just as it had in the stone building.

When the blinding light dimmed, the thirteen mages found themselves in the front room of a very lavish home, adorned with fine art and littered with roses. Natsu was passed out on the ground, and Lucy realized that he'd been trying to tell her it was transportation that had made him sick at the beginning of the maze. Gray gave him a kick, and he sprang up, fuming.

"Follow me, please," a butler, who seemed to appear out of nowhere, instructed them. "The Madame is waiting for you in the lounge."

"Madame? The challenger's a chick?" Cana speculated.

"Indeed," the butler responded.

He lead them down a long hallway that had gorgeous paintings hung so closely their frames touched and a red carpet on the marble floor that perfectly matched the many roses that were strewn about. Laxus, feeling more comfortable with his emotions now, stopped for a moment to bend down and pick one up to present to Freed, who blushed furiously. The others stared at them, very confused and out of the loop. Since when was Laxus with Freed?

When they came to the door of the lounge, a great door of dark wood carved with an ornate pattern, the butler turned one of the elegant golden handles and opened it for them. The mages proceeded into the lounge, which was much like the front room: marble floor, statues, fountain, beautiful and exotic plants growing from pots on expensive table or straight up from soil areas in the floor.

In the middle of the room was a dark red couch with a person sitting in it, facing away from them. From the back, the person on the couch could've been Freed. Their hair was exactly the same color, and when she stood, they saw it was just as long but pulled back in a half-up instead of tied at the bottom. Her hair didn't have the lightening-bolt-shaped strands either, but those Freed had styled in order to get Laxus's attention. The woman wore a long, red-violet dress with ivory detailing, and a long brilliantly colored feather, a quill, hung from a loose black belt around her waist. When she turned, she stared right into Freed's wide blue eye with two blue eyes of her own that matched his perfectly. "Welcome, Fairy Tail."

The Fairy Tail mages stood silently, their mouths hanging open. Who was this woman who looked like a female Freed, even down to their clothing. A sly smile spread across her face. "W-w-w-why?" Freed stammered.

"Yes, Freed, I'm the one who challenged Fairy Tail," the woman, who looked like Freed and now somehow knew him, stated coolly.

"Freed?" Alzack asked, feeling only slightly awkward to be proven wrong for suspecting Freed. "Freed, who is this woman?"

"My name is Ensis Stranol," she answered for him. "Freed's mother."

They all gasped almost simultaneously. She couldn't have been over forty-two, and Freed was twenty, but they supposed some people did have kids pretty young. Freed remained silent, staring at her. "Mother…." He tried to talk to her, but had no words for how he felt. "Mother, why did you leave us?"

"Oh, Freed," Ensis said, strolling over to him and laying a hand on his shoulder. Freed was tall, but so was she. When she touched him, Laxus stiffened but was ignored. "Freed, Freed, Freed. I had to leave. You're father was a dead-beat after my wealth and weighing me down from pursuing my dreams. I felt comfortable leaving you with him even though you were so young because I knew you had power, and I knew you'd find a good guild."

Freed was silent, but Natsu spoke up. "How could you leave your kid just because you hated his dad and knew he'd turn out fine anyway? Kids need parents!" Missing parents were a sensitive topic for Natsu, who'd lost his birth parents when he was a baby and his adoptive father, Igneel, when he was eleven. A lump formed in Macao's throat, but he swallowed it. He'd made things complicated for Romeo when he got a divorce from Romeo's mother, but looking at Cana next to him, he felt like things may change one day.

Cana was thinking something along the same lines and asked Ensis before she could respond to Natsu, "And speaking of parents, what did you mean when you said Romeo was at home, waiting for his 'parents?"'

"Oh, so you two aren't married yet?" Ensis wondered, though the tone of her voice and the look on her face said that she knew the truth all along. "You sure act like it, and it's about time you made a move, S-man." By "S-man" she was referring to Macao's necklace, the meaning of which not even Cana knew. "As I said back in the maze, each pair gave into their weaknesses, but each was able to pull through. Some of you even gave in so little, it barely showed. Erza Scarlet: your weakness is your past. You must learn to fight through anything, even when faced with painful memories, which I think you realized when you got over the pain of Jellal being hurt enough to want revenge on my son for supposedly being responsible."

Erza furrowed her brow. So this was the woman who lured Jellal to the maze under false pretences and told him to put his life in danger for her.

"Laxus Dreyer and Freed Justine, my son: your problems are simple. Freed, you must form a mind of your own instead of constantly using Laxus as a model form which to base you life. Laxus, you must learn to communicate you emotions. This is important, but I feel like you're headed down the right path."

"So, you were trying to set us up?" Freed complained. He felt pre-adolescent, needing his mom to get him a guy.

Ensis ignored her son's whining and moved on. "Cana Alberona and Macao Conbolt: your weaknesses are quite basic as well. Cana, you are an alcoholic, and as you saw today, that will get in the way of your missions. Macao, you don't really have much to weaken you besides your son, but I admire how you try to help Cana, so I didn't do anything to bad too you."

Cana hung her head, but Macao's rage was growing. _Nothing __too __bad?_ She'd lead him to believe his son's life was in danger! She'd tortured him.

"Gray Fullbuster and Juvia Loxar: your weaknesses mirror each other's, for Gray shows too little love for Juvia, and she shows to much for him. Everyone can see that you have feelings for Juvia, Gray, you needed to just swallow your pride and tell her. Juvia, you are far too protective of Gray and need to let him go just a little bit. That excess of passion will one day be your downfall, which it would have been had I not written those runes to be weak against ice."

"Hey!" Gray growled. "It's nice that you brought me to my senses, but you're wrong about Juvia! I love her passion!" Juvia's heart thumped, and she blushed until her face matched the couch. She held Gray's arm, so grateful for how things turned out for her.

Again, Ensis paid him no mind and continued listing weaknesses. "Alzack and Bisca: you both have the same weakness as Gray. If you would just let the other in on your feelings, you'd be a much stronger team. That, and you are both far too stubborn. I did frame Freed by putting so many runes in that obstacle course, and for that I am sorry, but it was all for the purpose of making you argue and thus weakening you as a team. Natsu and Lucy: you both are just weak in and of itself. Natsu, you are too impulsive and very prone to acting like a five-year-old. Lucy, you have strong spirits, but when it comes down to only you, you can do next to nothing. Fortunately, it'll probably never come down to you, so that's good."

Natsu growled, but remembering his weakness of impulsiveness and immaturity, he held his tongue for once. Laxus laughed.

"And finally, Gajeel and Levy: you have a dark history, but that is more of a strength, bringing you together over Gajeel's change for the better. Your team weakness, Gajeel, is that you have no confidence in Levy. When you were fighting, the only reason you didn't win was because you were paying more attention to the real Levy, who you could not have assisted in her battle anyway, than my version, who was attacking away at you."

"That one, I agree with," Gajeel said, giving Levy's hand a soft squeeze.

"Good. Now, everyone leave and wait in the receiving room. But not you, Freed. I want to talk to you," Ensis demanded.

Laxus reluctantly let Freed's hand slip form his. He wanted to stay with him, but Freed insisted that it would be better if he just went with the others. The group trudged down the hall, lead by the butler, back to the mansion's front room, where they could do nothing but sit and wait as instructed.

"Juvia feels terrible for suspecting Freed."

Gray nodded in agreement and gave her knee an assuring squeeze. "I think we all do. Sorry, Laxus."

Laxus scoffed, offended and defensive, but Gajeel spoke up, "Well, Levy and I knew from the start that it wasn't Freed who'd set up the runes. His mom's are stronger than his, and Levy couldn't rewrite them like she did in the battle."

"Freed is a very powerful wizard," Levy corrected him. "I get the feeling he wrote the runes back then to be easier to rewrite because he knew what they were doing was wrong and wanted us to stop Laxus," she muttered in Freed's defense but was met by Laxus's hard eyes. "N-no offense, Laxus."

"We also knew Freed was innocent," Bisca said, gesturing to herself and Alzack, though her partner didn't quite seem to agree with her.

With nothing else to say, the group fell silent again. Meanwhile, in the living room of the Stranol mansion, Freed was speaking with his mother. "Freed," she said. "You've found an amazing guild, but I hope your experience today opened your eyes to how weak they are. That guy you like, Laxus, has a point, you know."

Freed put his hands to his temples in frustration. "God, Mom, you can't do this! You can't just come waltzing back into my life just to try to make Fary Tail seem weak. You said yourself that everyone overcame their weaknesses and got to the center of the maze in the end, so why are you still pressing this?"

Ensis sighed and laid a hand on Freed's shoulder. "Freed, my beautiful son, you have found an amazing guild, but it's only amazing by the standards of a guild, which is still pretty low by my personal standards. All guilds are weak, which is why I sought you out. The time has come for you to come back and live with me. See how successful I am as an independent mage? You must come and join me here. It's where you've always belonged."

Amused, Freed looked defiantly into his mother's eyes. "You know, they say back at the guild that no one in Fairy Tail was raised by a normal family. Everyone either had only one parent, none, or just an unstable upbringing overall. So, no. I don't belong here with you anymore. I stopped belonging here the minute you decided to leave me with dad. I built myself up from there to where I am now, which is a very long way, considering he's too drunk most of the time to say the alphabet forwards, let alone backwards. And here I am, a rune mage who lives for letters and words."

"Like me," Ensis reminded him. "If you stay here, where you were always meant to be, I could make you an even stronger writer. Invincible."

"See, I don't care about being invincible. And I don't much care for you," Freed stated bluntly. "I care about my friends, Laxus, and the guild that I belong to. Fairy Tail is where all of us are meant to be, so please send us back. Now."

Ensis took a deep breath and held it for a long time, pondering her son's words. He was her only child, and she'd deserted him, left him to build himself up to the great place he is now for so long that he didn't need or want her anymore. She resented his decision not to come back to her, but she also couldn't be more proud. Exhaling, she walked with him down the hall to where his guildmates waited and sent them all back to Magnolia without a word.

They reappeared in the forest at the site of the stone building, which was no longer there. They questioned Freed, but he kept a hard face and didn't answer. Laxus walked next to him, protecting him from the others' curiosity, and the thirteen victorious mages walked back into town.


End file.
